Our family moved to Haverhill in 2002 and the lack of a decent recycling program should have been my first clue that something in town was amiss. Trash removal is expensive. Trash storage is expensive. Capping a landfill is expensive – have we forgotten about this additional trash related cost? A mandatory recycling program combined with the new trash pickup rules limits the amount of trash added to landfills and makes people more aware of the waste they are generating. This is a good thing.
I wish I lived on a planet where people did good things simply to do good things. Instead I live on a planet filled with people who only do good things because there’s either something in it for them or they need to avoid negative consequences. In the case of recycling and being more responsible about what is thrown away the negative consequence is a fine.
Our current recycling program has only been in effect for a couple of weeks and already a member of the City Council is looking to push Haverhill backwards into our pre-recycling days. From the linked article:
Ryan said he believes the city’s new single-stream recycling program might be the cause behind the new changes in city ordinance. He said he’s planning to discuss if the city was able to afford the program to begin with and not “quietly stick it to the homeowner and business owner.”
“It’s a great program if you can afford it but we can’t afford it,” he said.
I don’t see how we can afford to not recycle and how allowing the community to continue to throw everything in the trash is cost effective long term. We moved here from Brockton where we were allowed to put out two barrels of trash each week and as much recycle as we wanted each week. If you went over your two barrels you could purchase special bags at the grocery stores to put your extra trash in. To my knowledge these trash rules did not ruin anyone.
I see the fight about trash as more than just monetary. Putting these rules in place forces people to look differently at their habits and culture. This kind of introspection makes people uncomfortable. To realize that for decades you’ve been a wasteful person who is actively harming the environment can be painful. I’m not going to advocate for living completely off the grid as the Amish do – but I am going to advocate for being as responsible as possible for the choices we make and the items we procure and later dispose of.
I’m a realist and a bit selfish. As people we have a fixed set of planetary resources that are stretched to meet the needs of an ever growing population. As an American, I live in a horribly consumer centric and disposable society. If consumers can’t grab it off a shelf, use it, and toss it into a barrel – then they don’t buy it. This gratuitous wastefulness needs to stop. The only way to curb the constant trash is through making people think with their pocketbooks over the problem.
Culturally, we don’t look very far into the future at the situation we’re passing down to future generations. Look at the oil use or the national debt if you’d like examples of how obsessed we are with right now – to the detriment of next year or the next 10 years. Trash is just another example of our shortsightedness but our community trash use is something we can change for the better with these rules.
Adopting the rules also adds to our city’s overall financial health through paying less to the trash companies and receiving monies for our recyclables. Yes, change is uncomfortable and for some more expensive – but we all benefit from a cleaner, healthier and more responsible city.
