How sad. Eighteen years ago, DC came up with a grand recycling plan: by 1994 recycle 45% of everybody’s trash. Today that figure is 14% or below. Read more about this at the DC Examiner website. Part of the reason is the city’s lack of enforcement — they have yet to cite a single company or person for not recycling, even though they were sued by the Sierra Club to do so.
At this point, I’d say that only an all-out effort will save the recycling program. For me, this ties into the effort to keep the Chesapeake Bay clean. There should be a Chief Environmental Officer for each city, with strong authority and the ability to get things done. I’d imagine a CVO (Chief enVironmental Officer) getting this recycling program back on track, spearheading efforts to keep Chesapeake Bay clean, and encouraging development of more eco-friendly housing projects like Elevation 314 in Takoma Park.
Speaking of Elevation 314 (which is a seriously cool place); I almost chose to live there. They have a whole raft of environmentally friendly initiatives, such as bamboo flooring, geothermal heat, and active rainwater filtering. Very nice place.
Finally, here’s some good that will come out of the impending outbreak of bird flu: scientists have developed a method to produce compost from dead chicken bodies in order to both (1) kill the bird flu inside the bodies and (2) provide rich compost that can be used to fertilize dirt. Read more at Washington Post. This is far better than burning the bodies, which produces pollution, or discarding in the landfills.
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My studio has bamboo floors and I don’t own a car. I rely on ZipCar, a car sharing program that allows me to “rent” a car by the hour so I can drive to IKEA or Home Depot for larger items. So far, I have not had any qualms about my standard of living. In fact, I think it’s much better.
It’s true that living in DC has higher housing costs, but I save a whole lot more by not having car payments, insurance, parking and other expenses to worry about. If you don’t like public transportation or need to get somewhere in a hurry, there are plenty of cabs in DC. Cabs may be expensive but $10 is better than $15 of parking in some areas and the cost of gas.
I think people should live where they work and rely on public transportation to get around. It’s the suburban sprawl that is causing all the problems with the Chesapeake Bay, pollution from traffic and the loss of wildlife habitat.
Regarding recycling, I believe San Diego or Los Angeles (or one of those progressive cities in CA) have imposed litter taxes on small business. First of all, it employs people in a cleaning crew. Second, it keeps the streets clean. Last, but not least, it helps the environment by recycling the garbage. The businesses that take the largest share of the taxes are fast food restaurants such as Burger King, McDonald’s, etc. Maybe DC should do that too and my block wouldn’t have all those McDonald cups lying around every week fresh for the picking.
The recycling program here is ridiculous. I moved to Capitol Hill and a few months later, my blue recycling bin was stolen.
Stolen.
Well, it’s gone. So now I can’t recycle. I’d call up the waste services and ask them to bring me a new one, but it’s really a low priority for me (and I usually chuck it in the neighbor’s bin anyway!).
An EVO to track down those recycling-bin-stealing cretins would be nice. I second that idea.
The saddest part of this story is the head of the program, quoted on WAMU, saying that the goal was TOO HIGH. Having moved here from the San Francisco bay area — where San Francisco recycles 60% of it’s domestic waste and they aren’t even the city with the highest percentage, Oakland with its poor and predominantly non-white population in the lead.
Talk about the bigotry of low expectations. DC is allegedly one of the most liberal cities in America. There is no reason that our numbers should be so low.
Jeez — I didn’t know that, DC1974, about the head of the program. That’s simply awful.
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