The New York Times has a great story today about how Seattle has turned around its recycling rate from the "cardboard ceiling" it hit in the 1980s, to a national leader.
Seattle now recycles 44 percent of its trash, compared with the national average of around 30 percent, which makes it a major player in big-city waste recovery. Its goal, city waste management officials said, is to reach 60 percent by 2012 and 72 percent by 2025.
Philadelphia's recycling rate is 5%.
Seattle makes it illegal, with consequences, to throwout cardboard and paper in their nonrecycable bins. Now they're expanding that even further. While the environmentally friendly city has always taken yard scraps in a third bin, they now allow food scraps into that mix; soon they'll mandate it.
In today's world of global warming, every day we waste in reducing our carbon footprint is a day we will pay for in the future. (It takes significantly less energy to make things from recycled products than from raw materials.)
Recycling is not something our national or state government handles, the responsibility falls directly to our City Council. It is their inaction that continues to keep us in the dark ages of civic living.
As of Oct. 10, 2007 Philadelphia still lacks real, city-wide recycling.
Pathetic
5% recycling rate. The City could literally save millions of dollars/yr. by diverting recycling from the general waste stream, and Philadelphians, though a company like RecycleBank, (which is, ironically, based in Philly) could save money via coupons per pound of recycled material.
Instead, we continue the profligate waste. Like I said, pathetic.
-Z
The Incorrect Coast is right for once
While it's my official policy to only refer to it as the "incorrect coast" and make Paul's Boutique quotes when people talk about moving there... this is one they are beating us on. I wish we'd get our recycling rules in order and then force the issue. It makes good sense.
BR
---
The Russellian Incorporated Innovations Corporation
Lefty Homilies
Correction, its 6%
You have to give us a little more credit than that. We need a major overhaul when it comes to environmental issues at City Hall. We need someone who knows about recycling to help run this effort to clean these streets. This has to be backed by our Council and Mayor to make cleaning and recycling one of the priorities during council meetings. More trash cans and more street cleaning teams 2 times a week. I don't know how many times the street cleanup crew hit the streets on a monthly basis? It would be nice to see recycling bins around the city so you can have a alternative other than a trash can. And I don't mean just downtown either!!
Junior Williams
juniorwililams007@earthlink.net
http://mycityscapephily.eponym.com/blog