Portland, Oregon is a city that takes recycling seriously. You might even say too seriously. (But hey, you said it, not me.)
Lacey found this blue tub o’ notes at a Portland food cart pod, where she swears, “I’ve never seen anything but straight-up recyclables in the bin.”
related: Are you proud to be an American (who recycles)?
extra credit: Sanitation Twins — Portlandia [youtube]
74 responses so far ↓
#1
Nami
Geeze, didn’t know recycling nazis existed. By the way, how can you see the notes when it’s full of recyclables?
Jul 3, 2012 at 3:53 pm rating: 12
#2
Lysdestic
…I kind of want to know which pod this is.
Jul 3, 2012 at 4:32 pm rating: 1
#3
Ex-Portlander
Ugh, I had too many years with those damn hippies. I recycled like a good girl, but maybe if obsessive recycling resulted in no more s.hitty weather, I would have been more patient with their ilk.
Jul 3, 2012 at 5:00 pm rating: 4
#4
shwo!
Apparently The Rules Of Capitalization Don’t Apply To The Note Writer. But Bonus Points For Their Use Of The Rare “Sarcastic Sans” Font.
Jul 3, 2012 at 5:05 pm rating: 38
#5
Rose
That must be an inner Portland can. In my neighborhood they collect garbage every other week, with recycling every week and we are now expected to separate our food waste into a special container. And yes, recycle is meticulously sorted.
It’s kind of annoying.
In my parents’ neighborhood, however, 30 min. outside the city, they don’t even separate glass.
Jul 3, 2012 at 5:17 pm rating: 2
#6
claire
I Live In Portland And There Are Many Recycling Nazis Here. I Chalk It Up To This Philosophy:
This Is America. It’s My Right To Choose Where My Garbage Ends Up. If You Don’t Like It, You Can Just Get Out.
They Took Our Jobs
Jul 3, 2012 at 6:05 pm rating: 5
#7
donmuerte
Here’s the thing about this one: San Francisco (and a few other places, I believe) has laws that require people to separate compost, recycling, and “landfill”. Failure to do so results in the business getting fined. As a result, careless people not doing this results in the employees on the lower end of things having to literally go trash digging to pull people’s nastiness out of them and file them appropriately. Definitely something to be pissed about.
Jul 3, 2012 at 6:22 pm rating: 25
#8
a7
I don’t recycle. It’s not good for the economy, and it’s not even that great for the environment. What are they going to do? Go through my trash? Have fun. How are they going to prove it’s from my house? LOL
Jul 3, 2012 at 8:40 pm rating: 3
#9
Dewprisms
Apparently The Rules Of Grammar Don’t Apply To Note Writer Either!
But We All Have Our Faults I Guess. But Not Recycling Is Just Super Bad, Okay?
Jul 3, 2012 at 10:53 pm rating: 4
#10
xMariex
We finally got recycling pick-up here but the only problem is the picky rules. I know someone is going to call me a heinous bitch for this (because this is the internet and people have no problem calling others names for having a difference of opinion) but it does deter us from recycling sometimes. We don’t have to really sort the recycling into “types” but they want us to remove all labels and wash them, etc… and when you have several cans full of stuff like refried beans and several 2-liter bottles… and it’s been a long day of cleaning… you sort of go “screw it” and toss them in the garbage since you know the recycling people won’t pick them up unless they’re all de-labeled and clean and such. I would have no problem with them just using some of my tax money and giving some people that job at the recycling center. There, I created jobs for some Americans. Go me.
Heck, I’m just being honest about how they deter us from recycling by making what should be a simple act more difficult. But then, some of the trash companies are just as bad about rules for your garbage *roles eyes*
Jul 4, 2012 at 3:35 am rating: 14
#11
8lackie
Where I live. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is recycled.
Jul 4, 2012 at 4:26 am rating: 0
#12
Adriana
Whenever anyone uses “society” as justification for a rule, I immediately lose interest. “Society” just means “I don’t have any good reason to believe what I do, but somehow the collective actions of others should compel you to do this anyway.” You always know you’re on the receiving end of a bullshit argument when a person appeals to society to control how you have sex, what you put into your body, where you go, what you say, what you watch, and what you do. Now, if your argument is that it’s good for the environment, preserves resources, helps the economy, prevents others from having to do it to avoid government penalties, then hey, at least that’s a reason. “Society” is not a reason.
Jul 4, 2012 at 7:24 am rating: 9
#13
Dane Zeller
So, would it be correct to put some note paper in that big blue bin? Like small crumpled up scraps of paper with black magic marker writing on them? Or, should they go in the trash?
Jul 4, 2012 at 8:36 am rating: 7
#14
Courteny
I took the office recycling in, because in Saskatchewan you get your money back for recycling (although you pay environmental charges on them anyways), and the assholes in the office threw their garbage in the recycling bins. You’d think that blue bins means recycling, but in an engineering firm, they must be colour blind or forget that admin take the recyclables in only to have to pick out the garbage and be embarrassed that there would be garbage with the recycables whilst 7 other lanes can see this clear taboo. Not to mention how disgusting this truly is.
Jul 4, 2012 at 9:16 am rating: 6
#15
Polly
These “engineers” who keep tossing any old gooey crap in the recycling bins – is “engineers” code for “men”?
Jul 4, 2012 at 10:29 am rating: 10
#16
DrChalkwitheringlicktacklefeff
No trash? But…recyclables are a sub-set of trash!
Jul 5, 2012 at 5:49 am rating: 1
#17
The Elf
Food cart pod?
My brain came to a crashing halt on that one. Do they mean shopping cart corral?
The mental image is from Spinal Tap, when they are in the cocoons and the Derek Smalls gets stuck. Only it’s a shopping cart, not a bassist.
Jul 5, 2012 at 6:54 am rating: 5
#18
WB
At Portland’s Foot Traffic Flat Marathon and Half yesterday, the event even had a recycling monitor volunteer at the finish line trash cans helping you determine which of the 3 cans in which to pitch your trash. Really, when you are brain-fried after 13.1 or 26.2 miles, you need the help.
Jul 5, 2012 at 11:41 am rating: 3
#19
Willy Wonky
If I saw that note, I’d go out of my way to throw trash in the can.
Jul 5, 2012 at 5:30 pm rating: 1
#20
Beth Terry
It would be awesome if every citizen took a little field trip to their local recycling facility to see how it operates. That would explain a lot about why certain cities have certain requirements. I’ve been to recycling centers in Oakland and San Francisco, and only afterwards did I understand why I couldn’t just toss all my plastics into the bin and why plastic bags are not allowed.
BTW, my husband is the recycling czar at his job, and he can never understand why there is always one aluminum can in the compost bin despite all the many signs he puts up. I keep telling him someone is f.ucking with him, but he doesn’t get it.
Jul 5, 2012 at 8:03 pm rating: 5
#21
Lis
After reading all these posts, I think I am going to kiss my recycling collectors! We don’t have to sort, for some time now they take ALL plastics 1-7, including lids, AND we can put plastic bags in there — either a handful of them or, as we like to do, collect recycling in a plastic bag, then take it out when it’s full (several times a week) to the blue bins which are picked up once a week. They make recycling almost effortless!
Jul 5, 2012 at 10:04 pm rating: 10
#22
Mawwd
All I gotta ask is: what is so goddamn hard about not putting trash in the recycling bin? And once presented with a sign asking people to do a simple task, why do some suddenly turn into assholes that absolutely MUST keep doing the wrong thing? I mean, people like that must realize that they’re inconveniencing others, right? I mean, what if someone else gets fined because of that trash? What if to not get fined someone else has to clean up after the asshole? What about the fact that if nobody does, the recycling guy has to deal with it? If the recycling guy takes it and refuses to deal with it, it fucks up the recycling plant? I mean seriously. Just be a decent person and put your trash in the TRASH and recyclables in the RECYCLABLES and don’t make such a show about being a dickwad. It takes 1 second to recognize the correct bin, and over that some people want to throw a little fit and make sure to put their nasty trash where other people have to pick it up. Pathetic.
Jul 24, 2012 at 4:11 pm rating: 2
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