Proposed garbage/recycling revisions

Jack Bog’s blog posts an extensive review of the City of Portland’s proposed new regulations and system for curbside collection of garbage and recycling. Read the Office of Sustainable Development’s information here. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a link to information on commenting and public meetings happening before June 15. A couple of initial reactions:

The plan could be more cost-effective (i.e. less expensive) if flexibility is offered. For instance, the main page summary says every household will be given a new roll-cart for yard debris. I don’t need or want one, since we compost all yard debris. And since we currently only require trash pickup once every four to six weeks, using Waste Management’s “on call” option, I sure don’t want a container sitting around with food scraps in between collections, either.

I support requiring all businesses to recycle. On my unit at OHSU (yeah, the organization with the famed super-green building in South Waterfront), the only recycling available is for confidential papers that need to be shredded. No regular paper recycling (so I often end up putting paper in the expensive to-be-shredded bin), no plastic bottle recycling, not even a mechanism to return soda bottles with deposits. That’s pitiful, in 2007.

I’m spending the afternoon at City Council for the Parks Sponsorship and Naming policy review. I plan to take my laptop and browse the recycling proposals during the inevitable down time. More on both these issues later, perhaps.