R.I.'S RECYLING INITIATIVE

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain.”  (I Corinthians 9:24)

Rhode Island has it all over Missouri - well, at least when it comes to RECYCLING, Rhode Island has it all over Missouri.

I know I previously mentioned I’d be saying more about my May 1-12 trip to Missouri, and so here is some more.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually love Missouri and I’m seriously thinking of retiring there someday (although I have to talk my wife into it).  There are many positive things that can be said about Missouri, but when it comes to how Missouri residents handle trash and recycling, I can only speak negatively.  It is common, in fact, it’s routine for Missouri residents to just throw everything in the trash and not care about recycling.  When I say everything in the trash, I do pretty much mean EVERYTHING.  Sadly, “red states” tend to have bad records when it comes to recycling.  I will say that my friend Ed who lives in suburban Dallas, TX says Texans are really good when it comes to recycling, but Ed admits that his home state of Missouri does an abominable job in this area.  If I lived in Missouri, I’d probably be driving everybody crazy and I’d be thought of as a flaming liberal (I’m actually a conservative Republican) because I’d be pushing the issue of recycling.

I really am not a “recycling nut”.  Sometimes I do throw stuff in the trash which could have been recycled.   But, I probably recycle at least half of my “potentially recyclable” items and that’s a whole lot better than Missourians do.

As good as Massachusetts does when it comes to recycling, there is a state which beats us by a mile:  Rhode Island.   Woonsocket, Rhode Island is instituting the same program which has been in effect for awhile in Warwick, Rhode Island.  It’s a GREAT idea, and I wish Framingham, Massachusetts would adopt it.  Each home is given 3 sixty-four pound capacity trash bins on wheels.  One is green, one is blue and one is gray.  The gray one is for regular old trash.  The others are for recycling, one for paper and one for cans, plastic, etc.  There is an alternating schedule for pickups of the recycling bins...one week it’s the green one and one week it’s the blue one.  The gray regular trash bin gets put out every week; and at its side is a green bin or a blue one depending upon the week.  The problem with the circa-1991 style recycling plastic tubs that Framingham uses is they are TOO SMALL.  I really could use two or three of them.  On windy trash pickup days, recyclables are blowing all over the street.   Out of frustration, people also tend to just throw their recyclables in the regular trash when the tub is full.  I’ve sometimes put out large cardboard boxes labeled “recycle” along with my blue tub to make sure I got all the recyclables appropriately put outside, but having those big sixty-four pound bins on wheels would make things SO much easier!

People in Missouri.  I’ve just attempted to “Show You” (pun intended) what recycling can be like.  May you take heed.  And, government officials in Massachusetts, take a lesson from our neighbors in Rhode Island!