Garbage Hell

Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love San Francisco. I gush about it's beauty and quirkiness. There are times, however, when the city I love is beyond ridiculous. The recent need to pass a law to prevent the growing public nudity craze comes to mind. There are so many others.  Last night I witnessed the ridiculousness first hand at my front door.

It was early evening, maybe 6 PM and I was cooking myself a quesadilla, reveling in the fact that no one would be home for dinner and I didn't have to cook a full meal. The nurse was halfway through giving Maggie her meds, a process that takes 90 minutes. They wouldn't need my help for another hour.  I was ready to sit down and relax. I heard the doorbell and presumed it was another person raising money for some worthy charity. About half the time I don't even answer the door, but I did last night.

It wasn't any worthy charity at all. Instead it was four people, two women on my porch and two men down the stairs on the sidewalk. They were from the City and they were here to "educate me" about my garbage habits.

Yes. The GARBAGE COPS came to my door and made me burn by dinner. (Don't worry, I composted it)

You may recall this entry Maggie World: Garbage Cop from a month ago when I witnessed the garbage cop inspecting my garbage very early in the morning. This was a follow up visit to "educate" me on the proper use of the garbage system. They were very nice but  apparently I am headed for garbage jail or garbage hell if I don't straighten up.

My reaction was less than favorable.  I told them:

1) I had seen the guy with his head in my garbage can with a flashlight looking for errors at 5:45 in the morning. If they insist on looking that closely for problems, they will certainly find them because NO ONE can pass a white glove test like that, especially when it comes to the dirty world of garbage,

2) that there are several nurses here taking care of Maggie and I cannot control where they put various pieces of garbage any more than I can control those who scavenge through the cans after they are out on the street, and

3) that we are extremely compliant with all the rules and we recycle 100 times more than anyone else on the block (because we have so much garbage, but I left that out) and that I would think they would be here congratulating us on our 98% compliance instead of chastising us for our 2% (if that) failings.

They assured me they weren't here to chastise only to educate. As my eyes widened in disbelief a bit more they handed me an "educational"  brochure. The fancy brochure starts our nice enough

but when you open it you find out this is THE LAW!

As I glanced at this, I wondered about the cost to both the environment and the taxpayers for such a slick publication and knew exactly which receptacle in which to place it. .They suggested perhaps I could instruct the nurses. I was very nice, but I was losing patience fast. I inhaled sharply and said "you don't understand, this is as good as it's going to get and it is very very good. I would think you would be rewarding me."

Please understand something. The message they are spreading is not objectionable to me.  I think it is very important to recycle. The point is WE DO SO RELIGIOUSLY. I have a problem with the priorities of the city to employ an entire garbage police force who drive around in a city car, partially blocking my driveway for an hour while they make their "rounds" "educating" scofflaws like me, especially considering  I am already getting an A in recycling. 

They asked if I had any questions and I said, "Yes I do. Why is it that there is money for FOUR of you to be garbage cops and come to my door after dark but my daughter has to take furlough days from school. Why can she not get the services she needs but garbage is a priority?" 

They didn't have an answer.  

Do you? 

Anyone? 

Bueller?

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Please consider the environment before printing this blogpost.

Waste Not, Want not.

Friday. Garbage Day. Time to haul (roll) all three giant bins out to the curb for pickup. Black for garbage, blue for recycle and green for compost. Two different trucks come, the first for compost and the second for both garbage and recycling. The compost guy comes first and if I'm still in bed when they come down the street at around 6:30 AM, I know I am late.

The city/waste company provides everyone with the bins. They are decent size, easily large enough to collect a normal family's waste for a week, especially if they are separating it like they should. We do, religiously. We have three separate receptacles in the kitchen and separate it as we go making it simple to put things in the right bins. Apparently we are NOT a normal family, because, we had to order the larger size bins - and pay a lot for them -  because we have so much waste. Even with the larger bins, we always have more waste than anyone else on the block. It's unbelievable.

This is particularly noticeable with my next door neighbors, who, like us, have four people in their house. They are very good about recycling and using green products, as are we. Perhaps, then, someone could explain why their bins look like this

You will note that they too have a larger recycle bin, but a regular sized garbage bin, while we have the larger size of BOTH and still our looks like THIS.

I get the black one and I blame a certain young woman who resides in this house. Maggie produces at least 3/4 of the garbage in this family and it is going straight into landfill. There are probably 50 diapers every week as well as all the other medical waste.

I cannot understand the difference in recycling, though. There is probably more of that because of Maggie too, though I admit we are one of the last houses in America to still get a newspaper.

Wine bottles don't take up much room at all.