Friday, December 28, 2007

Great friends, good bubbly, and a tiny bit of recycling

Last week, on a cold December evening, I got together with a few friends for some holiday cheer. They are among my most environmentally-conscious friends (Beverly rides her bike or takes the elevated train to work every day and she and her husband do not eat animals, and Joy and her boyfriend don't own a car, and just returned from trekking in Bhutan), and we had a great time drinking champagne and catching up at Pops for Champagne here in Chicago. After we had emptied the bottle of champagne, and we were getting ready to leave the restaurant/jazz bar, I asked our waiter if the establishment would be recycling our bottle. Sadly, he reported that they don't recycle, because Chicago's recycling program has really never worked well.
I tried hard not to think about all the bottles they must toss into the trash every night, and I offered to bring home our bottle, and put it outside in my weekly recycling. Our waiter promptly returned with our bottle in a little take-out paper bag, grateful to see one less bottle tossed into the trash.
Beverly, Joy and I bundled up and headed out into the winter night. I brought along my little bag, and it is now sitting in a recycling bin somewhere rather than in a landfill.

5 comments:

Concealed Weapon said...

Greetings from Sermo!
I should have anticipated that

So how does the recycling program in a large city like Chicago work? - curb-side pickup? -separate individually or by building?

I know I may sound like a rube with some of these questions but we've always lived out of town. Recycling isn't a big issue out here. Ground water contamination, however, gets people awfully nervous.

Greendoc said...

Chicago has a blue blag recycling program--you just put the items to be recycled in a special blue bag, and leave it with your regular trash. But many people say the recycling just ends up in the trash. We live next door to Chicago, in Evanston, and we have curbside recycling in our alley. We recycle EVERYTHING!

Unknown said...

Starting last August, the city of Chicago has been trying a new program, but only in a few select wards, one of which I'm lucky to live in. We now have large blue bins in our alleys, but we've been told that it's fine to put everything (paper and cardboard of all types, plastics, metal, and glass) in there willy-nilly instead of sorting, so I'm still suspicious that it's all going in the trash. However, I'm still doing my part, just in case the city is actually following through on its promise. Those who don't live in one of the 5 or so pilot program wards still have to buy their own blue bags and cart them to a recycling center, which is sort of impossible if you don't own a car.

Beverly Stewart said...

We had a great time. It is wonderful to know and be friends with people who are working hard to eliminate the waste in our daily lives. I gave all my family members Chico shopping bags which are nylon and can be tucked unobtrusively in one's little purse, so that when I go to a store on impulse, I still have a bag. I feel so much better with the bag. I got them at greenfeet.com.

Aaron said...

I'm new to your blog and Im a fan. I wanted to add a comment b/c recently in my night life endeavors, I ran into a chicagoan that works in waste management for the city. We got to talking and i expressed envirormental concerns. He was fairly inhebrehated but he stated to my surprise that most of the reclycling that chicago does just goes into a wastedump! I dejected and wanted clarification. He looked at me and said "dont bother reclycling it just goes into a waste dump anyways." Now, I have had concerns about his statement; seeing as I take pride in reclycling as much as I can. I wish I knew if he was telling the truth, which at the time I believe he was. I hope it wasnt and that he was just playing a joke on an amateur environmentalist. On a brighter note I did once meet a fellow that works for the Water Dept. and he was very assured about the cleanliness of water here in chicago.