Boston: Where Waste Diversion Activities Come to Die

So compared to my US work colleagues, I think I had an odd childhood. Evidence of that comes in a variety of ways but chief of which might have been the assembly I was marched down to in grade 3 where the whole school got together in the gym and we all talked about the importance of recycling. I am serious. It was a relatively new thing in Mississauga, and the city decided that the best way to waste diversion was through nagging children in households across the city. And it largely worked.

Now ours was not the first municipality in Canada or even in Ontario to start recycling - that honor goes to the cities of Kitchener/Waterloo. However, in Mississauga, we got lectured about what could be included (newspapers, cans, glass, plastic bottles, cardboard) and the importance of washing cans and bottles, as well as separating the different sorts of recyclables from one another at a very early age.

Now in Boston, well, I'd be impressed if the term recycling was even whispered in school. Seriously, no one recycles in this town.

For example, the following was an email I received recently --
"Hello,
This is a notification that we will no longer have company recycling. The organization that used to come and collect our recycling no longer exists and the available alternatives charge us unreasonable fees to take it away. And as some of you know it can grow to be out of hand very quickly. So, there will no longer be recycling on any of the floors. If you wish to continue to recycle your bottles and cans, you must do so on your own.
Thank you!"
And a cheery thank you to you too.

You heard that right Canadians - in the US doing away with recycling is a cost saving structure. Now I get this, I do. In these tough economic times we should all be trying to save money. But really - recycling?! So we are embracing the savings now for the costs in the future.

Its like Americans see all of those environmental documentaries on TV and watch them just for the cute fluffy animals completely ignoring the tone of impending doom the narrator uses when talking about threats to the homes of those animals. I'm always listening to that part! No one making animal documentaries is doing it for the cute fluffy stuff - it's always about the impending doom!

For goodness sake people - Al Gore! Al Gore! Al Gore!

Since I've lived in Boston it has been an uphill battle to get recycling services not just in the office but also at home. Usually my battle to get recycling done has involved begging local authorities to get blue boxes and fights with room mates who said "Why don't you just throw it out?" To be completely honest for the past 2 years I haven't even bothered.

But I am not alone and my experience appears not to be unique. The latest figures I can find from 2007, show that Boston only diverts a whopping 15% of their trash to be recycled. Now Toronto on the other hand, managed to divert a much more respectable 42% during approximately that same time period. Generally San Francisco is the model city with regard to recycling, because the city is able to divert a remarkable 70% of trash through recycling and composting (green box) programs. Toronto aims to reach this SFO threshold by 2010. We'll see if they get there, but aggressive work with blue, grey and green box waste diversion programs mean they are at least putting their best foot forward.

Then there is Boston. With a Mayor you can hardly make sense of when he speaks, I guess we were aiming high to think that he might be able to articulate the importance of waste diversion to the city. The guy can hardly deal with transportation issues, so what more can you hope for (watch for future issues ridiculing Mayoral platforms here).

I for one would appreciate it if Boston would embrace the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Instead the 3Rs they've got going on right now - Reckless, Redundant and Irresponsible.