Red Bank Recycling

[Warkitty]

I am confused by a few things here.

1) Why does a recycling center require a caretaker?

2) Why is the recycling center ONLY open three days a week, two of them during business hours when normal people are at work?

Is this supposed to encourage us to recycle?

[Bob]

Is this supposed to encourage us to recycle?

Actually I believe no. From the sidelines it looks like all of the recycling effort is just to passify the "green" people. (hopefully to make them go away)

Chattanooga is a bit better, or the big beautiful recycle locations are there to impress our new friends.

[goomba]

>Locations are there to impress our new friends.

[ScarlettP]

The Red Bank Recycling center is VERY busy every Saturday. That's why we try to go on Thursday. During those 'normal business hours', you will see people like me who run small businesses trying to unload a truck full of cardboard boxes. It's a lot easier to do that when family groups aren't taking up all the spaces parking their SUV's in front of the bins so they can hold little Susie and Johny up high enough to put the family newspapers and a few drink cans in the containers and feel like they are saving the planet.

Sorry. It's good to teach the kids to recycle. And a lot of people really do keep a lot of re-usable stuff out of the land fill by taking it to the recycle center. I just get a touch annoyed at the families in gas guzzling road hogs driving over there with their little Walmart bags of stuff that looks like they just skimmed it off the top of the trash can for a scouting project.

[Warkitty]

So, why is it ONLY open at these times? Wouldn't it make sense to simply be open? I still don't see the point to having an attendant.

[Justin Thyme]

There are two reasons that an attendant is needed.

1) Can't have homeless people stealing the aluminum cans and taking them to sell. They might earn enough for rent and then what would the homeless advocates do?

2) Hiring an attendant allows some politician to be a hero to the attendant hired, the attendants family and the attendants buddies ensuring more votes come election day.

[vanstheman]

As a regular Red Bank recycler--lemme give my opinions on that.

Caretaker?--they are there to assist elderly,answer recycling questions--ie:What do we do with #5/7 plastic---Where do we take non-recycled refuse?--- and to monitor the various bins intake from contamination like brown glass thrown into clear glass---#2 plastic thrown into #1plastic.
As far as the hours,I don't really have a problem with it---I've seen it busy on Tues/Thurs the few times I've gone on those days but I take my stuff every other Saturday.With what I collect in recycling I only have to put out my refuse to the streets every 3rd week.
I've watched people let there kids bring bags of various recycles to the bins and they just dump all glass together,all plastic together---and even seen grown adults do the same,so I do see the need for some type of monitoring.

[Deleted]

I have a problem with using the gasoline to recycle some bottles and paper.

My daily activities don't take me near the recycling place, so it would be an out of the way trip to go there.



Dang it! Fetch the cans, Strega, and leggo my dadgummed leg.

[gridbug]

This is Red Bank...quit whining and go to church. Recycling is for Hindus :-P

[Bryan Stone]

if you don't recycle,... you're an asshole

just saying

everything has to be attended to,... or even the assholes that do try and recycle will screw it up

[Bryan Stone]

and Kitty

you're not supposed to be "encouraged" to recycle.

you're supposed to want to do it because it's the right thing to do and if nothing less it degreases your garbage load by nearly 50%.

I live in a house w/ 2 other 20 somethings (and plenty of friend traffic) and I (since it's my place) strickly enforce recycling. nearly everything brought into the house on a daily basis is a large precentage recyclable.

we go days w/o taking out the garbage and can miss garbage day 2 weeks in a row and it's no big deal.

well at least if I'm not carving up jumbo shrimp straight from the gulf coast. but my dad only makes that trip once a year.

[Warkitty]

Nor should I be discouraged from it, and these hours are discouraging.

[Bryan Stone]

fine. just throw it in the garbage then

[Warkitty]

Thanks for your blessing. I'd RATHER the hours change. Heck, just pushing the time to 9-6 would help.

[vanstheman]

Not judging..but,I don't quite understand why you just can't take your recycles there on Saturday---I didn't see in your initial post why Sat. might be a problem.
Recycling is incredibly easy to do--sometimes people look for reasons to bitch and moan about it when it really just comes down to......,they just don't want to do it.
Just looking at some of the responses here such as trying to impress VW--pacify the greenies--cost too much for gas to bring it over (my particular favorite)--hiring an attendant gets votes etc...........really?Get with it people.

[joedog]

Jan 27, 2010 8:20:24 GMT -5 Warkitty said:

I still don't see the point to having an attendant.

Head out to Chattanooga's First recycle center @ Warner Park or the little spot off Access Rd behind Mchitler, I mean McKamey animal center and watch.

People are IDIOTS and they need the people from Orange Grove to show them what goes where. If not watched the "recyclers" will dump glass into the cardboard and paper, Plastic in the glass, you name it they will drop it in the wrong bin every time.

Hell, they even have the OG folks working the Trash relays because people cant even put sofa's and old fridges in the right place.

How do I know? Do you really need to ask?

[Warkitty]

Because unlike some people, I'm actually BUSY on Saturdays during their business hours. Strange, but true.

I'm not saying I don't try, just that these hours are stupid. I guess for you and Bryan though, anything even resembling criticism is proof of someone that simply won't make an effort. Must be nice to be so righteous.

[vanstheman]

Sorry you felt i was being righteous towards you.I think if you re-read what I wrote you'll see my criticism was directed towards the other responses.Considering I took the time to respond to your query's with reason------oh well.
And here I was gonna tell you about this cool "free" desk I had.

[Babs]

I've lived here for 35 years. This is the first I've heard of the Red Bank recycling center. What are the hours. I remember when they did curbside pickup. We're checking this out! We get at least 8 newspapers a week, including the NY times. Kordax, if you're going to need papers, let us know!

[JC]

I enjoy being an asshole

[Justin Thyme]

--hiring an attendant gets votes etc...

Are you saying the attendant won't vote for the person that got them the job? Getting people jobs in return for their political support has gone on for as long as there have been government jobs and Red Bank has done well in carrying on the tradition over the years.

I know that when I lived in Dallas Bay we had recycle containers at Middle Valley Park that weren't attended and were used and there were no problems with the sorting that I knew of. But this was ten or more years ago. I really don't see a need for an attendant all the time the recycling center is open.

[Deleted]

I was happy to participate in Red Bank's curbside recycling effort when it was in effect. I even still have the recycle bin.

Unfortunately, not enough people participated to make it worthwhile, and evidently it was too much of a drain on the city's resources.

When I was a kid, we used to burn what we (I) could, bury the food items in the garden, and Pop hauled off the cans and glass every once in a long, long while to the city dump. Small town. I don't recall any garbage service way back then and there.

[vanstheman]

Sorry Justin,but we're talking about 1 person working 24 hours a week----you're really grasping at straws here---if you read mine and Joedog's explanation you should get your answer.You're reading way too much into this.

[Justin Thyme]

Sorry Justin,but we're talking about 1 person working 24 hours a week-

Sure, and it sounds like this person's hours are set to be convenient for the worker while making it difficult for a working person to get there except on Saturdays. Now Saturdays might be convenient for me to drop off my recyclables but I do know that there was a time in my life when I would be at a ball park from 7:00am until 4:00pm or later on Saturdays. WK had a very good question. Why not have the center open weekdays until 6:00pm? Open an hour later in the morning and close an hour later in the evening. Maybe fewer people would be discouraged from recycling if the hours of operation were a little later.

Now as far as me reading too much into anything, what's your point?

[vanstheman]

Been recycling for years---coached my kids--thousands of hours of practice and you know never had a problem gettin my recycles together and dropping them off on my way to our other obligations.
WK's request of extending hours to 6 our valid--not disputing that it would help.But,people do look for reasons not to partcipate--just look at some of these responses.As far asyour assertion of politcal patronage----go take a look---it's laughable.

[Justin Thyme]

As far asyour assertion of politcal patronage----go take a look---it's laughable.

I was born and raised in Red Bank. Things may have changed some over the decades in the running of things but I don't think the political patronage has been eliminated. It can't be in a small town and it isn't always a bad thing.

[Bryan Stone]

I live in East Ridge & drop off my recycles @ silverdale. because I grew up in that area &I don't mind grabbing a new CD to listen on my way when I know they are open.

listen. either you want to recycle or you don't. you can come up with reasons why you can't if you want. but,...

you can come up with more reasons why you can.

it's up to you

[Justin Thyme]

Bryan, it just isn't that important to me. If there is a separate place to throw my soft drink can or a bin for my recyclable paper I'll use them. We have curbside recycling where I now live so the recyclables go in the blue container and the blue container goes to the road. If I had to sort it all out and haul it to a recycling center it wouldn't happen. It isn't whether I want to do it or not, it's how much of a priority I care to make it. Other things are of higher priority to me.

[Bryan Stone]

that's fine,.. just fine.

but the argument (for lack of a better term) that it's too hard to do is nonsense.

I'm not telling anybody what to do.

it's [recycling] easy to do and it's a responsible thing to do

[ScarlettP]

Luckily, I live inside the Chattanooga city limits and have curbside recycling for my house. Luckily, they have gone back to twice a month pick ups. Not as nice as weekly, but WAY better than the "once a month, if you forgot that day, you have a huge pile of junk to deal with" method. For once, I'm really happy with my neighbors, they always put their recycles out the day before so I remember to do mine. I'm also happy that they aren't really strict on that "Blue or Clear" bags rule.

I'm also lucky enough to be a small business person where the 'boss' believes that taking the recycling down to the center is part of the job, so I can do that almost any time.

Kat, if you want to, you can drop your recycles off on my front porch and I'll take care of them for you. Hugz.

Problem solved.