The city hopes its One Cart Recycling program will increase the percentage of the population that recycles from 34 to at least 60:
The mayor explained the benefits of recycling, including using less landfill space and being eco-friendly. He also swung the biggest hammer available in tough financial times: The city's new contract with National Serv-All means Fort Wayne gets 50 percent of profits from sales of recycled material.
I'm not sure how this will work. The current bins, though requiring the sorting of recyclables, are small enough to keep indoors. The one for plastics and other culinary detritus can be tucked discreetly in a corner of the kitchen. I keep the one for paper behind the couch, so I can just plop the newspaper right in when I'm done reading it, How many people are going to want to keep a 48- or 96-gallon bin in the house? Having the bin outside will mean a zillion extra trips to fill it up.
Oh, well -- just a small bump on the road to perfection, I'm sure. Elsewhere in the green revolution:
They dangle from the arms of many New Yorkers, a nearly ubiquitous emblem of empathy with the environment: synthetic, reusable grocery bags, another must-have accessory for the socially conscious.
But the bags, hot items at upscale markets, may be on the verge of a glacier-size public relations problem: similar bags outside the city have been found to contain lead.
“They say plastic bags are bad; now they say these are bad. What's worse?” asked Jen Bluestein, who was walking out of Trader Joe's on the Upper West Side with a reusable bag under her arm on Sunday.
All the "experts" say there is no immediate health threat from the lead. Of course, those greenie bags do tend to collect all kinds of nasty bacteria, so be kind to Mother Earth at your own peril.
