It’s garbage day on the north side of Verona today, the first pickup since Christmas, and we’re seeing a lot of cardboard at the curb. If you can get those boxes up to the Verona Recycling Center at Commerce Court it would be better: Cardboard at the curb costs us money, while recycling cardboard earns us some.
Here’s how. Cardboard doesn’t compress well in garbage trucks, so our haulers can’t pick up as much trash per truck. But we still pay the same disposal fee, whether the truck is full or not. The cardboard dropped at Commerce Court can be sold and processed into new paper products.
Yes, we know this seems like a small point, but multiplied across the 1,500-plus households across town, it adds up. For more information on recycling, see the Web site of the Verona Environmental Commission.
Could the Town negotiate a once a month at-the-curb cardboard pickup in the next contract? I bet folks would be much more willing to recycle their cardboard if they didn’t have to take it to Ozone. Say, once a month junk mail recycling, once a month bulky/metal pickup and once a month cardboard. I know it’s not a HUGE deal to break down the cartons and take them over to the Recycling depot, but it’s still an extra step that may prevent some people from “bothering” with the cardboard. Most Verona citizens are already in the habit of “taking out the recycling” so this would just be an added product, but not a new activity.
Ahh just how I left it this morning. Now I know, do they pick up cardboard with newspapers?
It’s a week later and driving up my street I still see lots of cardboard out with the Tuesday trash. Look it’s been stated over and over again, it’s cheaper to recycle than to dump. So for those of you who could care less about the environmental aspect of throwing cardboard out with your trash maybe you can keep taxes (!) in the forefront of your mind? As stated above, every little bit helps to keep budget costs down. With regards to picking cardboard up at the curb? You know what, it’s not a big deal to flatten the cardboard, keep it in your basement and take it once a month to Ozone St. Try it!
Come on Verona, we can do this!