Update: Automated Trash Pick-up...

A while back my wife and I attended a Town Hall meeting held at The Lodge of the Great Northwest so the the City of San Antonio could present information on the new automated curbside recycle and garbage collection system. I recall that there were lots of concerns from people about only having garbage collection one day a week instead of two. The city folks assured them that people already on the program have had sufficient room to toss all their junk, especially when they get with the idea of recycling.

So, we have had this system in use for a month or so and I'm here to tell you, it works.

I took video of my recycle bin being loaded into the new truck.

No, I didn't stand out there all morning waiting for the truck to come by so I could make a 10-second clip. The truth is, I forget it was recycle pick-up day and heard the truck coming down the street so I quickly went outside and pushed the recycle bin from the garage to the street. But first, I had to move my wife's truck out of the way because the bin is too large to fit between the two cars if parked close together.

Which brings up a few key points about his new system, which you simply have to adapt to. First, the cans are large. But the two of them do not take up much more space than my original garbage cans did. We have always kept our cans in the garage so for the most part, I think they would fit wherever people were keeping theirs before the change. Oh, and as long as you tie off your plastic bags before placing them in the garbage container, they won't stink the place up.

Some people were used to keeping their cans on the side of the house or in the back yard behind privacy fences and now, they feel that since the cans are too big to be carried, they simply place them in front of the garage doors. People, seriously, this is in poor form. I am certainly not the golden standard of good taste, but the first step to knowing that you are "Going Ghetto" is to drive through a neighborhood and see these garbage cans parked in front of people's garage doors.

I know of several people who are having to modify gates or add walkways to the side or back of their homes to accommodate these wheeled cans; I know it is a pain, but totally ignoring the fact that it is a violation of the deed restrictions to leave the cans out in front of your house, it just looks bad if you do.

If you are suggesting that the new cans are too large and awkward for elderly folks to move in and out, I would submit that first, my mother-in-law in her 70's can roll hers out with ease because of the wheeled design, and second, if they simply cannot, handle them due to other physical limitations, the city has a program to assist those residents with smaller sized containers. Contact 311 for info.

The bottom line on this is, I understand that the city did not consult with our deed restrictions before giving us these larger containers, but most of the people on my street have been able to accommodate the new cans and keep within the deed restrictions. So I'd love to hear the specifics of why other people can't.

The other thing we have observed is just how much stuff we are now recycling that we had simply tossed in the regular trash before. What we have noticed (and your household certainly may differ) is that in a one week, we generate about triple the amount of recyclable material as we do just regular trash. And I think that was one of the expected benefits the city had in mind when coming up with the program.

I don't have all the facts and figures, but it just makes common sense that when the city has to pay money to take the trash to the landfill, but can generate income by selling off the recycled stuff, the more we can do to increase the recycled stuff and reduce the trash, the better off we will all be. If I were in the Scouts, I might get a merit badge for coming to this conclusion.The final point goes back to the video of the truck picking up the large can. Did you notice that the driver of the truck never got out and lifted the can? Just think of how much money the city is saving on medical costs associated with back injuries. In spite of the adjustments we as homeowners have to make to get used to this new system, I'd say it was a brilliant program and our city deserves a vote of praise for implementing it.

The New Garbage Cans Are Here....

The City of San Antonio Curbside Recycling Program is on its way to the Great Northwest and tonight, members of the Environmental Services Department presented an informative hour of details and guidelines to a standing room only audience of residents at the Lodge of the Great Northwest.In case you don't know, the program to replace your regular garbage cans and green square recycling bins with two huge roll around containers has been a great success in the areas that it has been implemented in so far. The idea is that the city can reduce the number of personnel and vehicles required to do both garbage and recycle collection, and save money in costs due to injury claims. You see, with this system, the garbage collector can sit in the comfort of the air conditioned truck, lift the can briskly using a mechanical arm, then move along to the next home. No Ben Gay needed for aching backs, no catching of a cold in the winter or heat stroke in the summer. I'm starting to think this might be a gig for me! The staff outlined the 5 step implementation process. Steps 1 and 2 were notifying residents about tonight's meeting and holding the meeting. Step 3 will be to leave hangers on the door to let us know when the containers will be delivered. Step 4 is the actual delivery of the containers and step 5 is the first pick-up a week later.For the most part, people seemed eager to get started with the program. Many people had questions about the logistics of things for example, what do people do with their large accumulation of leaves. One resident was concerned that he has so many leaves that he won't be able to have them picked up. He suggested that the GNW area should get a special program to accommodate the fact that we have so many trees in our neighborhood. The staff has heard this same concern many times over and had statistics ready to back up their defense. Make no mistake, the city is asking for people to make recycling a part of their lives. One of the big containers we will receive is a blue one. This container is as big as the one for trash, a brown one, but is intended for recycled stuff. Your beer cans, your newspaper, your junk mail, your beer cans, your cardboard, your cereal boxes and beer cans, and plastic bags and such. By recycling more things, you'll have plenty of room for the rest of your normal trash in the other container.

So what about the leaves. Well, twice a year, the staff tells us that you can have leave bags picked up - up to 50 bags at a time. This is in addition to the regular brush pick up. But forget that. I have close to 25 trees between my front and back yards. I rarely put out a plastic bag full of leaves. Get with the program and put a mulching blade on your mower and mow right over the leaves. It will help your yard and save your back. Don't worry, your yard won't look like the big mulch pile in Helotes.

Need more info? Call the City at 207-7830 or check out the website.

Reminder: GNWatch Meeting 27 Feb 08

If you get bored and got nothing to do tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 27th of February, why don't you take a little jaunt down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest at 8809 Timberwilde in The Five Oh, and join us at 7:30PM to hear Chief Steven Baum and a few of his folks from the San Antonio Park Police. They'll be telling us what they know about Oscar Perez Memorial Park and the happenings in the world of vandalism and tagging, and what they are doing to address the problem.

I have invited our city council member, Delicia Herrera, but have not heard from her or her staff; but hold out hope that she might send a representative to listen in on the meeting.

If none of that interests you but you need some cookies and coffee, come on down!