Garbage Day

It's garbage day in my neighborhood. When I look at the castoffs from my neighbor's lives, and also how they cast things off, I can see a little bit about where they are in their lives, what they value, and, especially,  what kind of care they take of the environment.

My town is a town of well-meaning people. Pretty much everybody you meet says they care about the environment. After all, it's Berkeley.

 
But when you look at the garbage they put out on the curb on garbage day, you sometimes get a different story.

This can, for instance, has corrugated cardboard and paper peaking out of the top. I've also seen aluminum cans and glass in the garbage. What's the deal?


Are people unaware of what can be recycled? Have people been too "busy" to build new habits?

The City of Berkeley has a Zero Waste Commission (formerly known as the Solid Waste Commission) and a target of reaching the goal of complete recycling by the year 2020. That's 10 years from now.

We've got a serious disconnect going on and not a lot of time to close it.