We are fortunate in that our apartment complex offers recycling services (cans, plastic and paper products) on site. We just have to bring our stuff to the maintenance room each week. No bins. No driving to a drop-off center. The system has been in place for years and it works. Therefore it was an eye-opener to read that roughly 3-million apartment-dwelling Californians only recently got the "right" to recycle when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the "Renters' Right to Recycle Act" in July. Previously, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had vetoed a similar bill. Why didn't he like the bill?
Next week is America Recycles Day. This is a good day to renew our commitment to recycle each day. The sponsoring organization has a pledge to sign as a means to remind us to keep going.
Plastic shopping bags are popular for their durability and ease of use. But they're bad for the environment and not welcome in most MRFs either. Locally we dispose of our unwanted plastic bags at Econofoods grocery stores (MN) in collection boxes provided by Trex. Trex makes beautiful products from them. The company states that in 2010 they collected over 3.1 million plastic bags for use in their products, making them the #1 plastic bag recycler in the U. S.. Private bag recycling projects are worth supporting. Plastic bag deposits or use fees are sensible too. If shoppers were all charged a quarter for each plastic bag used, it wouldn't take too long for cloth bags to become widely used instead.
It's Day 13 of the Minnesota governmental shutdown and not only are some environmental permitting services not being performed, but the Polution Control Authority website is offline too. One wonders how long the governor and legislature will continue to put Minnesota's 5 million plus residents last on their agenda.
July 20 Update: Gov. Dayton signed a bill to end the shutdown today and about 22,000 state employees will return to work tomorrow after a 20-day layoff.
