Akron Changes

Some recent changes in and around Akron:

We can now purchase yogurt and cottage cheese without becoming overwhelmed with guilt when confronting the empty container, as Akron's recycling program has been upgraded to collect and recycle all plastics labeled 1 through 7. I no longer have to bug The Mustard Seed about their number 5 plastic take-away containers. While I'm glad the city is boosting its recycling program, I still think we need to be more mindful of the amounts of plastic we consume and toss away on a daily basis. Look at all the plastic in your life that doesn't come with a convenient recycling number,such as plastic potato chip bags, plastic bubbles around electronic products, plastic windows in junk mail envelopes, plastic notebooks, lunchboxes, brushes and combs, your toothbrush and so on.

Along with the recycle upgrade, Akron officially launched its much anticipated Green Print (you can download it in its entirety here). The ABJ's Bob Downing summarizes the goals:

Suggestions include promoting green buildings; cutting the use of electricity; boosting water conservation; expanding the urban forest; increasing green jobs; encouraging neighborhood revitalization; better managing the city's fleet of vehicles; increasing parks and walkable areas; turning more sewage sludge into electricity; boosting recycling and bicycling; adding grass-covered roofs; limiting pollution in storm-water runoff; building rain barrels and boosting new urbanism and regional smart growth.

All of those proposed changes sound good to me. Too bad we aren't focused on making those changes realities. Instead, we must put up with a small band of opportunists who want to "Change Akron Now." They aren't talking about making positive substantial changes in Akron's environment. No, these are the folks who want us to kick out the mayor -- for reasons that range from petty to vindictive, as they can't seem to find anything illegal.

We all got to vote for the mayor less than two years ago at which time we could discuss and debate the mayor's policies and abrasive personality all we wanted. He had competition in the primary, won that race and then faced no opposition in the general election. Nothing I've read from the Change Akron Now folks has convinced me that I made a mistake in voting for Don Plusquellic in 2007.

The only good thing that can come out of this is that the political careers of the opportunists instigating the re-call drive come crashing to a halt when they fail to drive out Mayor Plusquellic. If anything, this recall election should wake up the electorate enough to consider who our future political leaders might be.

Setting the rules for our dumping grounds

Did you see the interesting report in the ABJ this weekend about who gets to dump their waste in landfills operating in the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne district? Evidently the folk there are getting tired of all the hassles associated with providing dumping grounds for the surrounding counties. Things like noxious smells, toxic leaching, and possible air, ground and water pollution continue to plague Countywide Landfill, for example.

So that district made up some new rules that state quite simply, they aren't going to accept waste from communities that are not recycling at the same or greater rate as Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne. According to the article, 17 counties do not meet that criteria, including Summit. (There is a catch, however -- if a county has a greater access to recycling than Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne, then they can still dump their trash. Two counties from the list of 17 qualify on access grounds, and that includes Summit.)

Bob Downing's story doesn't answer the big question that leaped into my mind -- why are all these counties unable to achieve higher levels of recycling? Does it cost too much? What is the long term cost of not achieving higher rates of recycling, both residential and commercial/industrial?

One final dismal thought -- if Ohio continues to lose population, we may have to open up the whole state to dumping. If you can't get people to live here, then why not turn it into one giant dumping ground?

Bonus Link: Here's a blog entry about seven quilts that were saved from a landfill. Enjoy the beauty of the saved work and wonder at the minds that thought it was okay to throw away such historic works of folk art.

How plastic is your garden?

Nothing like standing in the middle of one's garden after all is planted, taking stock of how each plant is doing, noting daily growth, budding and flowering of various plants and generally feeling a great glow of satisfaction. Until, one heads for the garage to pick up a weeding tool and stares at the mound of plastic containers, waste products from this season's planting.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, over 320 million pounds of garden plastic are created each year in the United States. Peat pots are rare these days. Instead most nursery plant pots are formed from #5 plastic, but there are some sold in #6 containers. Even the plant information tags stuck into pots are made out of plastic. I can remember when they were handwritten tags on wooden popsicle sticks, but you don't see that any more. Only one of the plastic tags currently on hand was identified, and alas -- it was one of the bad ones -- a number 6 indicating polystyrene resin. (Over 20 cities in the US have banned polystyrene, which is a main component of fast food foam containers.)

I couldn't find a plastic identification number on any of the thin three and four pack containers (generally black or green) that are usually grouped into flats, also made of plastic. Graf's Nursery uses cardboard flats, which makes them easily recyclable. I gathered up all the plastic flats and took them back to Dunkler Farms on my last visit there to pick up a few end of season items.

However, I'm still stuck with all this garden plastic and feeling dreadfully guilty about it. Some of the plants I bought, I could have grown from seed in recycled paper containers, but unfortunately my job cycle is busiest when indoor planting is supposed to start. So I'll have to wait until I retire to jump into the joys and challenges of growing from seed.

Some folks in other places have found ways to deal with unwanted garden plastic. Michigan State has organized a recycle day for garden plastic. Read about it here. In Minnesota. a consortium of garden centers, AGSI Plastics and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have organized a massive garden waste plastic recycling program all season long!

There are many difficulties in recycling garden plastic. The process requires that all the pots be clean as dirt hinders the recycling process. There are very few plastic recyclers that deal with numbers 5 and 6. One garden plastic recycling group had to set up its own equipment and got into the business of turning the recycled plastic pots into plastic benches for gardens. It's great to see creative solutions coming out of difficult problems. As petroleum becomes more precious, the easy and convenient throw-away plastic containers will increase in cost -- to pocket books and to the environment.

E4S in Akron -- no more waste!

It's easy to get depressed about environmental issues -- so what a big emotional boost to attend the E4S event "Waste is a business opportunity" at the new Ohio Brewery on Main Street this evening. The event was packed, and the networking non-stop. What is more, the future for reducing and reusing waste streams is looking much brighter.

We heard some short testimonials from local business people, who shared what their companies are doing with and to various forms of waste. Shearer's (makers of chips and other food products) sells their used cooking oil to a company that extracts the nutrients to use in dog and cat food products. The potato peelings are sold to a company that turns them into cattle feed. Another company uses the potato peelings to make biodegradable "leather." The company also collects and resells shrink wrap to a local toy company that recycles plastic. They are working on installing heat exchangers to reuse the heat from the cooking process to heat the buildings and offices. Shearer's saved 200K by initiating sustainable practices last year and made an additional 200K by turning waste streams into profits.

GoJo Industries also sells plastic waste and donates soap to local charities who distribute it to those in need. Zerolandfill is an organization that recycles samples of fabric, brick, and other items used by architectural firms that would otherwise end up in a landfill. The samples are distributed to local artists and educators who can use the materials for a wide variety of arts and crafts projects. They are looking to expand into Akron, as there are many local architectural firms with resources to recycle.

A Piece of Cleveland harvests good wood from buildings that are being demolished. The materials are then turned into new pieces for the home, such as counter tops, built in furniture and so on. The owner of this company spoke with great passion about "upcycling" building materials and providing the purchaser with a "rebirth certificate" for each piece, detailing its point of origin and historical context.

The most exciting news of the evening hands down was a new process from PolyFlow, that supposedly can take all plastics, not just one and two, and turn them into a reusable polymer. That also includes compound plastic items as well as rubber tires and carpets. Sounds incredible, sort of a 21st century alchemical miracle. The man who spoke said the business plan is to lease the technology and establish plants all over the world.

E4S makes sure that people in the audience are thinking and connecting about the topic of the night, and we were instructed to talk in small groups to answer questions about waste streams in our daily lives and how we deal with them...or not! I talked to a young architect working in downtown Akron. He has worked to get everyone to turn off their computers every night when they go home, which saves a whole lot of energy. They are also going to invest in rain barrels to put at the corners of their building with drip lines attached and spread throughout their building's landscaping.

I thought about the school district in which I teach and how unsustainable so many of its practices are. Shouldn't all the food waste be going to a company like Paygro, which turns food and green waste into usable products such as mulch and soil enhancers. I've seen custodians toss fluorescent light bulbs into the trash, which is a huge no no, but who's paying attention? We let kids buy water and sports drinks in plastic bottles, but don't provide recycling for those plastic bottles or for aluminum cans. And we won't even talk about how much is left turned on and plugged in over night and the weekends.

Valley Park Association, Summit County Metro Parks, and a representative from Akron's E4S is expanding their Akron event calendar and by tonight's turnout, we can only hope for more green and sustainable business opportunities locally. Lots of movers and shakers were in the audience tonight, including folks from the Ohio EPA, KSU radio, The Sierra Club, CuyahogaGreenPrint, which is actually getting up and running -- look for a web site soon and invitations to join in the movement to turn our village green!

E4S Cleveland Event: Waste Reduction & Recycling

The Village Green should be back up and running regularly shortly -- at least for another week. Spring break is just around the corner and boy, am I ready for it! In the mean time, Entrepreneurs for Sustainability just announced another event, this one set for Cleveland. I wish they'd do the same event in Akron, as waste reduction and recycling is an area in which all citizens can take direct action.

Bust Through Waste Reduction & Recycling
Myths & Barriers

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

8:30 am - 3:30 pm

• Is your company looking for cost savings and other opportunities in your waste stream?
• Are you ramping up a new or existing recycling program?
• Is your organization ready to move beyond recycling to waste elimination or to set a zero waste goal?

Join E4S and the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District on April 8th to learn about waste elimination best practices, resources and to tour the Oberlin Allied Waste facility. The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District will provide participants with a hot off the press recycling and waste reduction resource kits.

Click here for more information and speaker details.

Registration limited, RSVP online or call 216-451-7755.

The Story of Stuff

Here's my nomination for Best Film of 2007. The Story of Stuff walks you through the entire process of how stuff is produced, transported, bought, sold and where it goes when it is no longer wanted. You can watch it chapter by chapter here or go to Free Range Studios to watch it in its entirety.

Chapter 1: Introduction



Chapter 2: Extraction




Chapter 3: Production



Chapter 4: Distribution



Chapter 5: Consumption



Chapter 6 -- Disposal



Chapter 7: Another Way

New Year's Revolutions

I don't know that resolutions are going to do it. If we want to turn climate change around we need a few revolutions:

1. Achieve clean green energy, and transportation both individual and public forms.

2. Ignite a massive effort to recycle more and use the toxic landfills less.

3. Invent and use alternatives to plastic.

4. Begin a major transformation from a consumer society motivated by convenience to one that is a conserving society motivated by a sense of fairness rather than greed.

These huge transformations must be fueled by our day to day actions. I can't invent a car that runs on compressed air, but I can save up so that when one arrives on the market, I can purchase it.

Made a resolution that helps you feel like you are participating in the revolution. I've been shopping with cloth bags since the fall of 2006. It wasn't easy at first, but I eventually realized that more reusable bags stashed in the vehicle makes it very easy not to forget to shop with them. Another tip is to hang the bags, once emptied, on the door handle so you don't forget to take them back out to your car.

I reached a milestone this week. I used up the last saved blue plastic bag for recyclables from my pre-cloth shopping bag days. I still have a huge stock of white (and other shades) plastic shopping bags.

There are some folks who are blogging their personal trash challenges. Fake Plastic Fish is the place to visit if you want expert advice on how to avoid plastic in your life. 365 Days of Trash is a blog for recording and collecting one man's trash for a year. He's going to stash it in his basement so he can come to grips with how much trash he is producing. Crunchy Chicken is working on a project to help us all get rid of personal waste, ie: excess weight and the propensity toward over-eating. You can join in Project Waste here. No Impact Man, the one and only, has finished his year long stint making no impact on the environment, but his blog continues and is an excellent resource on how to decrease your impact on the planet.

I don't have a focused trash project like those above, but I am working to be more mindful of what I consume and what I throw away. The goal is to develop habits that produce less waste and to make purchases that take packaging into consideration.

What are your personal climate control goals for 2008?

Recycling We'd Rather Not See

The Akron Beacon Journal reported today that thieves made off with metal outdoor lighting fixtures used to light downtown's Cascade Plaza. Yet another metal theft in a city that has seen aluminum siding stripped off homes, while other thieves venture inside to loot copper pipes. Just a couple of months ago, huge sections of bleachers were stolen from Hoban High School and sold for scrap.

Scrap copper prices have doubled since 2003, fetching almost $3/lb while aluminum and other metals are highly sought by China, India and other countries.

Is it comforting to know that as the infrastructure collapses, busy little "recyclers" are making sure that nothing goes to waste? Now if only various plastics would become hot commodities for recycling.

Round and About Kenmore

So much has been going on here of late. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is looking a bit spiffier, but still too many empty store fronts.

The new Kenmore Branch library is at last going up. The design is based upon the old Kenmore City Hall. (Pictured above.) For those who aren't hip to the history of Kenmore, it was once it's own city. Trolleys from downtown Akron would travel along tracks by Summit Lake and down to the Boulevard and then on toward Barberton.

If you talk to old time Kenmore residents, you will still find bitterness toward the City of Akron annexing Kenmore in 1928. I never knew the reason until I found the Kenmore Historical Society's web site. They have a page of Memories, a handful of interviews with long time residents. Here's a description of how the annexation went down:

Vern Christy, served as a member of the Kenmore Village Council for several years. He was, in fact, instrumental in collecting signatures of the 15,000 residents of Kenmore required to have Kenmore declared a City. It was just about this time that Akron came forth with their decision to annex the village. Kenmore's Mayor Hollinger and several on the Village Council were much opposed to the "take-over" and determined not to concede. The evening of the Village Council meeting at which the annexation papers were to be signed, Akron came prepared with subpeonas.

When the first subpeona was served on Mayor Hollinger, Council members Christy, Goetke and Jones and a fourth member ran from the meeting to forestall the signing of the annexation papers. The four were cited in contempt of court and the Sheriff was sent to "track them down." Verne Christy did not go home that night, but at 3:00 A.M. the Sheriff was there banging on his front door, demanding he come out. Christy's son-in-law, Walter Edwards, answered the door and asked what Mr. Christy had done, "murdered somebody?" The answer was "No", but "they were out to get him, and would, dead or alive." The four were located, and still refusing to sign, taken to the County Jail. Elmer Prentice went down to bail them out, willing to go to almost any figure to post bond for them. The judge refused to set a bond, sentencing them each to a week in jail. The four did sign the annexation papers, but they still served their full time.

Must have been exciting times back then in Kenmore. Now it is pretty tame, not to mention a bit threadbare and empty in spots. Again I imagine a Kenmore Boulevard filled with green businesses that have been created to solve the problems brought about by our excessive use of energy and other resources. I'd love to stroll down the Boulevard and be able to buy solar panels for my roof, and non-plastic items for household use. I'd like to take all my other plastics that the City of Akron won't recyle to sorting bins along the Boulevard where it is crushed and used again for something else. Not sent here.

A day in Hartville

Labor Day! A day to celebrate one's employment by taking the day off and going shopping!

But why encourage the manufacture of more toxic stuff from China? So my friend and I chose to head to Hartville for one of the biggest flea market days of the year in our area. My friend is a collector and I just like to look around and reflect on the detritus of society as revealed in booth after booth of ... stuff!

And I admit, I collect books and always manage to find one or two that make their way into my reusable cloth shopping bag.

We headed out at sunrise and arrived to find that traffic into the flea market was already backed up. We headed for the old flea market first. This is the one that spreads out over a grassy field with a number of county fair type long buildings that house the permanent flea marketers. The dealers were still pouring because there was no more set up room across the street. by 9:30 AM we had gone the rounds twice and decided to make our way to the recently constructed more modern flea market, with a huge indoor market as well as acres of paved vending areas as well as patron parking.

I love the sparkle and vivid colors of glassware on display. I never buy any of it, but enjoy the sight.

Here's a "one of a kind" item, as you can read on the display sign. Who is going to buy a sauerkraut cutter made in 1949 for $350.00?





Name something that people collect and you'll find them at the flea market. Buttons not only appeal to people who collect buttons but also to people who have theme collections such as Elvis or Rin Tin Tin.



Three very different lamp bases in a row. The third one looks like an alien.




These pewter spoons feature story book characters carved on the top of each handle.



All is not cheerfulness and bright colors at the flea market. This table was covered with animal traps.

I was somewhat appalled by the amount of guns on display.

One man had a pickup truck bed full of pit bull puppies, while another had an already very large Mastiff puppy for sale.



Bobble-heads! And look, it's Barry Bonds in his San Francisco Giants (my favorite team) uniform. I didn't dare pick him up. I had a Barry Bonds bobble-head but his head fell off. Stay away from steroids boys and girls!



And finally, perfect for your outdoor deck or downstairs basement gentleman's den, this "perky" native doll stands proud on a table full of stuff -- waiting for the perfect buyer who will put her on display and keep her from the depths of landfill hell.

After the flea market, we stopped to visit a friend who lives right outside the town of Hartville in a beautiful old recycled stone and brick cottage. Living so close to the flea market, this friend had built up a number of collections including old movie projectors, percussion instruments, and toy trucks.

His grandmother had recently died and had requested her ashes be poured on her compost heap! The family had complied and planted some flowers there as well, and also did some readings from a giant book of composting. The whole family had gathered this weekend for gram's birthday. They stood around the compost heap and sang Happy Birthday to her. Our friend took us to the heap and shared some amazing adventures from his Gram's 95 years of life.

I was very impressed with the stories of Gram. I had been thinking of doing the exact same thing, having my ashes added to the compost -- the final act of recycling any of us can do. I also liked the idea of this family creating their own unique rituals to deal with death and honoring of family.

Summit Country Trash

Some interesting facts gleaned from an article in Wednesday's Akron Beacon Journal:

Summit county trash is about 453,000 tons per year.

Summit County recently has recycled about 17 percent of residential-commercial garbage and 83 percent of industrial waste.The state requirement is that 25 percent of residential-commercial trash and 50 percent of industrial waste be recycled.

The EPA goal is to make recycling available to 90 percent of residents.

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked at the low figure for residential recycling. When I was growing up, people dumped trash mindlessly without a thought to its eventual effect upon the planet. There are many still with that mindset who simply don't give a damn about trash.

It is disheartening to sort through one's trash and find so many types of plastic that are not recycled in Akron. Pictured above is a pile of plastic ready to be recycled in Austin, TX. You can read about their solid waste program here.

Don't forget to take your cloth bags whenever you go shopping. I have been doing very well with my bags lately. I had been forgetting to take the bags out to my vehicle after emptying them. I'd stop at the store and remember -- oops -- I left my bags at home and now I have to pick paper or plastic. Drat!

So now I always hang my cloth bags on the doorknob after I'm finished unloading. The next time I go out the door, the bags go with me and into my vehicle ready for whatever shopping lies ahead. My personal goal is to cut down on shopping as much as possible and to try to buy items in packaging that can be recycled.

Paper or plastic?

Shopping today at a Tops Store, now holding going out of business sales at various locations, I had with me my cloth shopping bags. So when the clerk began to bag up my groceries without asking, "paper or plastic?" -- I stopped her by saying -- "I brought my own bags, I'm trying to save the planet."

She gave me a disgusted look and said, "Lots of luck," then turned her back on me and swaggered away like I was some kind of nut.

Fact is, I have heaps of blue plastic bags at home, waiting to do duty as can/glss/plastics recycling containers. I have another huge sack full of non-blue bags that I resist throwing into the regular trash. Then I have a small stack of paper bags I use for paper recycling.

Which really is better, plastic or paper? Depends upon whether the study is done by proponents of plastic or paper industries. Recycling web sites give you the statistics and facts. Turns out it is a toss up. The best bags remain reusable string or cloth bags, like the one pictured above. (It's available here.)

Here are some interesting facts from the New England EPA:

* Plastic bags were first introduced in 1977 and now account for four out of every five bags handed out at grocery stores.

* Paper sacks generate 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.

* Paper bags are made from trees, which are a renewable resource. Most plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources.

* 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, 2000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. The latter takes up a lot more landfill space.

* It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Energy to produce the bags (in British thermal units): Safeway plastic bags: 594 BTU; Safeway paper bags: 2511 BTU.

* Paper is accepted in most recycling programs while the recycling rate for plastic bags is very low. Research from 2000 shows 20 percent of paper bags were recycled, while one percent of plastic bags were recycled.

* Current research demonstrates that paper in today's landfills does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light, oxygen, and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed.

* Incineration can decrease the quantity of plastic and paper bags. However, incineration causes air pollution and creates ash which has to be landfilled.

Acme Responds

I received the following email today:

Good Morning _________:

Thanks for your recent comments
We have passed them on to our buying staff
We appreciate your business
Thanks for shopping at Acme FreshMarket Stores

Rick

I had asked why Acme uses brown plastic bags instead of the blue recycle bags that can be used to collect glass, plastic and aluminum recyclables for disposal in Akron's new blue recycle bins.

I also suggested that Acme make a push for re-usable cloth bags and if they won't change to blue bags, consider putting out collection bins for customers to return the plastic ones for recycling.

Rick's response didn't sound very excited by my ideas. He does appreciate my business, so maybe I have to shop elsewhere until Acme wakes up. However, such a tactic will be useless unless I continue to keep the pressure on. And that means asking readers to email Acme to request blue bags and returnable bag options.

Meanwhile, a reader posted a comment steering me to Bring Your Own Bags, a web site with accompanying blog site that contains a heap of information about how important it is for humans to stop using plastic bags.

Here are some statistics snagged from Bring Your Own Bag:

• 100 million plastic bags a week go to landfill.
• Plastic bags can take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion - 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That translates to over one million per minute.
• North America goes through 110 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways polluting our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans.
• Production of plastic bags requires vast amounts of oil.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

Pity the poor ocean dwellers, not only are they beset by rising temperatures from global warming and acidification from human production of carbon dioxide, they also choke on tons of plastic infesting every body of water on the planet. You can read about the vortex of plastic choking the oceans here.

So everybody -- please Bring Your Own Bags and limit your use of plastics to those that can be recycled. Individually, it seems like such a small action, but collectively it can have enormous positive effects upon this planet.

Shopping with bags in Akron

Recycling, in order to be effective, has to become an everyday routine. Take shopping, for example. When I remember to return my shopping bags to my vehicle, they are there to be used whenever I stop for groceries or books or any other items I might buy.

When I forget my cloth bags, I lose a nickel per bag off my groceries at The Mustard Seed. I have to make the choice between paper or plastic. I usually take paper, as I've got a huge stock of the ubiquitous blue plastic shopping bags. I use them to recycle my aluminum and plastics in the city's new blue recycle bins.

But when I shop at Acme, I have to take paper as they do not use blue bags. This bothers me, so I looked up Acme online and found an online complaint form. I encourage all who shop in Akron to use the same form and lodge a similar request. Let's see if we can make a small dent in shopping bag excess.

I read an article a few years back in The New Yorker about a group that has as its hobby the risky business of ridding trees of plastic bags. The darn things blow in the wind and lodge themselves in trees all over NYC. This small group of folks couldn't stand looking at them anymore and began removing them. Direct Action at its finest.

So being mindful of plastic bags is something we all can do to help the environment and make Akron a better place to live. Here's what I emailed Acme. I will let my readers know if I get any response.

Dear Acme Corp,

I generally prefer grocery shopping at your stores over the other chains except for one major problem. Your plastic shopping bags are brown instead of blue. Why do you not promote recycling by using blue plastic shopping bags for your customers' convenience?

My overall favorite grocery store is The Mustard Seed in Montrose. Not only do they provide blue plastic bags, they also give a discount of 5 cents per shopping bag to those customers who bring their own bags rather than use store bags.

I have noticed that Acme stores now have more organic and whole food products available and that makes me happy. I want to support my local stores over the big chains. I burn up less carbon by shopping at my local Acme than by driving out to Montrose.

Please consider changing to blue bags and promoting the use of re-usable shopping bags. You could even sell cloth bags with a beautiful Acme logo design on them. If you won't give up the brown plastic bags, at least provide a recycle box for customers. Those bags are not accepted in the Akron trash recycle program.

Akron's Trash Collection Sports a New Look

The city of Akron has spent a lot of money on brand new trash collection containers for all its citizens. Everybody gets one green bin and upon request, a blue one for recyclables. Those who sign up for the blue recycling bin get $2 off their trash bill every month. People who have more trash can obtain a second green bin for $50.

The program was announced late spring. Kenmore's containers arrived this past week. You can see my new green bin at left, snuggled into a convenient corner. They are very sturdy and the lid stays connected to the top, so no more problems with lids that come off and roll down the street. The lids also fit neatly on top of the container, so rain cannot enter the bin.

These sturdy bins are now collected by an automated trash truck that picks up the bin by use of mechanical arms that grab onto it and lift and tip it into the truck. This will decrease the amount of injuries to trash collection workers. According to reports in the local paper, no workers will lose their jobs.

Household furniture and appliances will still be collected and can still be placed by the curb, at least three feet away from the bins. All items in the bins must be bagged properly.



There should be an aesthetic improvement to our neighborhoods from this upgrade in service. No longer will we see piles of trash bags spilling out smelly trash onto the curb. Animals searching for food will not be able to get into the trash bins.

I am most excited about the presence of the blue recycle bins and have great hopes that citizens of our city will make greater use of the recycle system. It has always bothered me to see how few set out their blue bags of collected bottles and cans, plus paper products. Let's hope that the $2 rebate on trash collection fees attracts new recyclers. Once you have both bins, you become aware of how much you throw away each week that is re-usable and how much is not.

I have been making a concerted effort to cut down on the amount of trash I produce. I am a faithful composter of vegetable matter from my kitchen as well as my garden weeds and cuttings. I now am aware when I go shopping which products are packaged in materials that can be recycled vs those that can't. I now take my own cloth shopping bags to the Acme, because they continue to issue brown plastic bags -- can't use those for recycling. And I take my own shopping bags to the ABJ Farmer's Market and to the Mustard Seed. I've got enough blue bags saved up to last many years!

{Here you see a tomato ready to be plucked from my garden, thriving in the composted earth I add each spring from the composter.)

What materials will the city of Akron recycle? The lid on the blue bin has a graphic label that shows you what is accepted for recycling.

The label gives you the idea that you can recycle any plastic containers, but the city's web page tells you that only plastics marked #1 or #2 should be recycled. Have you taken a close look at plastic packaging lately? There are many items marked with other numbers. Plastic food containers that I purchase at The Mustard Seed are marked #5. You'd think The Mustard Seed would be providing recyclable containers!

The label states cardboard, corrugated only. Ever since I started recycling, I have flattened any cardboard packaging and put it in my brown paper bag for collection -- everything from cereal boxes to toothpaste boxes, none of which are corrugated cardboard. Nobody has ever sent them back to me or left me a notice saying don't recycle these. I worry that these items get booted out and sent to the landfill. However, it feels very good to know that all junk mail is recyclable -- and that stuff piles up very fast indeed.

On the day of our first "automated" trash pickup, I noticed that all along Manchester Rd, there were a scattering of folks who weren't with the program. Trash bags were piled up and old containers still put out overflowing with a variety of refuse. The Akron Beacon Journal published a report that the process of giving out the carts had uncovered a number of people who were not on the public works billing lists! Some people had been putting out trash for years without paying for the service! But for every household that wasn't in compliance this first week, I saw many more who were using the recyle bins for the first time. And indeed, the aethetic view of the new bins all along the curbs was indeed far more pleasant than the old way of doing trash business. Let's hope it works for our collective advantage in the months and years to come.

GARDEN NOTES



I have some white iris that is blooming for the second time this growing season -- an effect of global warming?

Also my figs are now green and I'm not sure when I should harvest them or how to use them once they are plucked from the tree. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Trash Bin Update

I am noticing that a number of residents are keeping their trash bin on the curb. One of the big worries when this was move to automation was annoucned was that the bins would be too unwieldy for people to move and that senior citizens wouldn't be able to wheel them back and forth from home to curb. I loaded mine up with a lot of heavy stuff the first time around and it was still very easy to move. Tilt and roll! So far, I am pleased with the bins and with the way they handle.