Dreaming of Blue

I have a recycling fantasy.  It goes something like this:  I dispose of our household garbage in my fancy new recycling garbage can, which has separate sections for recyclable garbage and non-recyclable garbage (so nice and easy).  When the can gets full, I empty the two separate bags, head out towards my alley and deposit my garbage in a regular garbage can and the recyclables in a blue recycling can.  Then the folks at the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation come by on a regular basis and empty both cans.  Garbage goes to the landfill and recyclables get recycled.  Sounds relatively simple, right?  Plus, I get to pat myself on the back for doing the right thing for the planet and teaching my children how to recycle.

Unfortunately, my recycling reality is more like this:   

I still have the fancy new recycling garbage can, but that is where the ease of recycling ends for me.  When I empty my garbage can, I take my recyclables and store them in my garage (yeah, it gets stinky) until I have accumulated enough bags to merit a trip down to a Recycling Drop-Off Center.  I throw my recyclables into the back of my car and drive three miles to the drop-off center.  I have never made this trip without having some weird, drippy goo leak out of the bags all over my poor car. Once at the recycling drop-off site, I hope that the dumpsters aren't already overflowing so I can actually unload my car rather than continue to trek around the city with the stench of garbage growing stronger.  When the drop-off has been accomplished, I am generally feeling bitter about the Chicago's crappy recycling program, plus I need a shower.

But here is the worst part:  My neighbors who literally live across the street from me live out my recycling fantasy while I am mired in a recycling mess.  I live in the 32nd Ward.  The opposite side of my street is in the 1st Ward.  The 1st Ward is lucky enough to be part of the Blue Cart Roll-Out so they got blue recycling carts last June, those jerks.  Those of us in the 32nd Ward are not so lucky.  I keep on checking the Streets and Sanitation website, thinking, "surely, the 32nd Ward has to be getting recycling carts soon."  Nope.

The only other recycling option available in my area is the Blue Bag Program, where you put your recyclable garbage into blue bags and deposit them in your regular garbage can.  The blue bags get picked up with the regular garbage and are allegedly sent to a recycling center.  Problem is that many of the blue bags seem to go into the landfill with the rest of the garbage.  So then you have separated your recyclables for nothing.  When I drag my recyclable garbage down to a drop-off center, at least I feel relatively confident that it is going to be recycled.

Lately, I have developed my own recycling strategy.  I have been trolling the nearby alleys in the 1st Ward looking for unused blue carts to adopt as my own so I don't have to haul everything to the drop-off center.  Shady, I know.  Some may call this "dumping," but I think of it as simply maximizing under-utilized city resources.

For a city that aspires to be "the most environmentally friendly city in the U.S.,"  Chicago sure doesn't making recycling easy.  Check out the Chicago Recycling Coalition for more information if you are peeved about the sorry state of recycling in Chicago.

Anyway, I am off to the drop-off center because my garage is getting pretty stinky.  Sigh.