friday is my favorite morning to go walking. friday is trash day.
i love looking in people's recycling bins. i may not know the people who live inside each house, but i can tell a little bit about them from what's in their bin. it's curious to me that the containers for yard waste and trash are closed --you'd really have to go poking around to learn anything that way-- but the contents of recycling bins are right out there in the open. anyone can look in and see what you've been up to. who needs the freedom of information act when you've got recycling bins?
 | this is the only bin i saw this morning that contained squashed cans. are we still supposed to squash our cans? i feel like that was a rule at one point, but maybe no longer? i don't squash my cans. |
 | i really quite enjoy the variety of consumables in this bin. a well-rounded person! |
 | i want to meet this person. on one hand, very organized and tidy. on the other, quite the beer-drinker. excellent. |
 | but this person? wow. i'm sure he's a very fun individual, but i wonder if he has any hobbies other than booze? maybe he simply had a party. i don't know. but his bin makes me wonder. |
 | while this isn't a recycling bin, it certainly embraces the spirit of recycling. i wanted that basketball, but wasn't sure if i had to take the desk, too. i didn't want the desk. |
 | very minimalist. i want to see the inside of this person's house. |
 | what style! it's almost like an art installation! |
 | holy smokes. diet cokes! |
 | this was an entertaining bin. i love me some taquitos, so that box caught my eye. but also, the girl scout cookie box had a taped-on note... those cookies were a gift. sweet. |
 | i couldn't help but wonder whether the person who lives in this house wants to keep the contents of their recycling bin a secret from me. |
 | these people really like juice. i don't drink much juice anymore. too many calories. |
 | most people who have two or more recycling bins align them next to each other on the curb. these people bucked the trend and stacked them on top of each other. rebels! |
| and, ok... here's ours. ray must be throwing away our 2-liter bottles instead of recycling them... we go through several a week. (after we saw this episode of bullshit both ray & i started to really question the value of recycling.) also, i don't use many canned things, as you can see. some salmon last week, that was it. and we've started subscribing to the sunday paper, but we save a lot of it for gardening and fire-staring, so only the glossy pages end up in the recycling bin. | |
this is a fun post... i'm curious, how do you use your newspaper for gardening?
Posted by: joy at May 12, 2006 12:00 PMour glass recycling container is full of beer bottles and liquor bottles. mostly beer. and when i say full i do mean full. recycling here is collected every 2 weeks. i have some anxiety about having that container in the front of my house, for identification purposes.
our cardboard/plastic recycling container is large, larger than our garbage container. lately it's had lots of old cardboard in it, overstuffed, as we're finally getting rid of the boxes we used for moving way back in september.
i know, we're pathetic.
Posted by: alex at May 12, 2006 12:06 PMOur recycling is picked up in the alley, so I feel it's relatively "secure" from prying eyes ;-)
However, one morning I woke up to the sound of cans being crushed. Some fellow who looked like he could use the revenue was taking the cans out of our bin, stomping them and putting them into his bike trailer, which was STUFFED. I had no problem with him taking my cans but I didn't like being woken up, so I've been a crusher ever since.
Posted by: robdob at May 12, 2006 12:53 PMXta, I can't believe you took photos of all those people's recycling bins! Did anyone come out and give you the evil eye?
When I walk around on trash day I just get annoyed at the people who are trying to recycle things that my county doesn't take, or throwing away things that are clearly recyclable.
As for the people with all the juice bottles: Dang, that is a lot of juice, but I think I spy an empty bottle of Grey Goose in there too, so I think they're drinking a little more than just juice. Maybe they call it "Goose Juice."
Posted by: minty at May 12, 2006 01:14 PMjoy-
i use the newspaper to contain weed growth. i cover the flower beds with a 3-4 sheet thickness of newspaper, then dump mulch on top.
minty-
i was pretty covert in my photo-taking. if i saw someone in the area i'd either feign tying my shoes or just not photograph the bin. i didn't want anyone thinking i was a terrorist or anything.
surprisingly, there were a large number of people putting out their trash during my walk. ray (and most of the neighborhood) puts it out the night before.
Posted by: christa at May 12, 2006 01:27 PMoh my god, I can't believe you took pictures of people's recyling! and nobody stopped you? on some weeks I fear that my immediate neighbors will see the contents of my recyling bin and judge me, but you...YOU take photos! please don't move to my neighborhood. :-)
Posted by: mary at May 12, 2006 03:09 PMI'm also constantly worrying that people are judging habits from our recycling. We have 4 eaters (& 3 alcohol drinkers) and our recycling only gets picked up every two weeks. And, we have to pay extra for it. We are the ONLY people on the street that gets it picked up. Which means you can't look at the neighbors to see if it is recycling day. And they can all see our recycling.
Posted by: Elizabeth at May 12, 2006 03:20 PMif you had seen mine this week you'd think this: wow, how versatile, this person drinks both cokes AND diet cokes. and she drinks wine AND beer. maybe she makes soup with all that broth and canned tomatoes. she must fart a lot with all those beans. and oh, she's out of conditioner.
Posted by: mary at May 12, 2006 03:23 PMI am waiting for the Michael Moore expose...where they follow the trash truck straight to the dump and just bury it all...while laughing at all the suckers that recycle.
Posted by: John Boy at May 12, 2006 03:30 PMi swear, last night i saw a coffee maker in a recycling bin.
people, you cannot recycle coffee makers.
Posted by: lisa at May 12, 2006 04:56 PMI LOVE THIS POST.
Love it.
I would SO take those pictures.
(Imagine our horror when K's new brother in law mentioned that HIS brother was our recycling collector?! For years we were 'the people with all the wine bottles.')
Posted by: blackbird at May 12, 2006 08:34 PMi heard bob dylan once got back at someone who was rifling through his trash, by putting his feces there.
Posted by: ray my back pages ubinger at May 14, 2006 07:51 PM*giggle* this is GREAT. my boyfriend thinks i'm crazy for taking pictures of food...i can only imagine how he'd feel if i started taking pics of recycling bins ;P
Posted by: Laura/PFG at May 24, 2006 02:46 PM