Bright & Early: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse Edition

March 1, 2010 10:00 AM 12 comments

Good morning, Nashville. City officials are busy trying to find ways to coerce our city to recycle more. Currently 67% of Nashvillians participate in the curbside recycling program, which isn’t too shabby, but the Dean administration wants to find out why the other third isn’t recycling.  Typically, the rate of participation in a recycling program is greater among folks renting property because they’re often younger than homeowners and younger people recycle. In Nashville, however, younger neighborhoods like East Nashville and Sylvan Heights have some of the lowest participation. Green Hills and Belle Meade have actually taken the lead.

Photo by ryan2013.

  • http://www.thomasaka.com Thomas

    I can only speak for Hermitage, but people here might be more likely to recycle if they actually emptied the bins occasionally. The last time I took my recycling, they were overflowing so much that you couldn't even walk in between the bins, much less put anything in them.

  • http://nashvillest.com Christy Frink

    Interesting thoughts! I take it you guys don't have access to curbside pickup, or are you just referring to the materials (i.e. glass, etc.) that they won't pick up? Although we have curbside in Nashville proper, it's a struggle to pack an entire month's worth of recyclables into the bin and I end up taking loads to the drop-off points pretty often anyway. I've only ever been to the one in Green Hills, but it seems to be emptied regularly. Maybe it's worth writing a letter or email to someone about?

  • http://www.thomasaka.com Thomas

    I can only speak for Hermitage, but people here might be more likely to recycle if they actually emptied the bins occasionally. The last time I took my recycling, they were overflowing so much that you couldn’t even walk in between the bins, much less put anything in them.

  • anon

    i don't live in metro, but my mom does and she thinks it is just too much of a hassle to separate out what they don't pick up–so she takes her stuff to the drop point where they take everything (except, inexplicably, plastic bags)

  • http://nashvillest.com Christy Frink

    Yeah, I run into that issue especially with glass. I mostly end up tossing glass rather than setting it aside because it's a hassle. And I wish Metro took plastic bags, too. I tend to use them as trash bags in smaller trash cans, and places like Kroger also have bins out front to collect them for recycling. McKays used bookstore also collects and reuses them. It would definitely be easier if Metro would just accept them like everything else, though.

  • Michele1

    I am all for recycling. It used to be easy for me since there were those huge bins in the Wal-mart parking lot close to where I live. They have since removed those and no one knows where to take their recyclables.
    Now I have 5 bags of plastics in my kitchen and a huge box of paper/cardboard. I can't bring myself to just toss it in the dumpster.
    It would be great if someone (insert city official here) would give us Nipper's Corner residents a hand with this.

  • http://nashvillest.com Christy Frink

    Interesting thoughts! I take it you guys don’t have access to curbside pickup, or are you just referring to the materials (i.e. glass, etc.) that they won’t pick up? Although we have curbside in Nashville proper, it’s a struggle to pack an entire month’s worth of recyclables into the bin and I end up taking loads to the drop-off points pretty often anyway. I’ve only ever been to the one in Green Hills, but it seems to be emptied regularly. Maybe it’s worth writing a letter or email to someone about?

  • anon

    i don’t live in metro, but my mom does and she thinks it is just too much of a hassle to separate out what they don’t pick up–so she takes her stuff to the drop point where they take everything (except, inexplicably, plastic bags)

  • http://nashvillest.com Christy Frink

    Yeah, I run into that issue especially with glass. I mostly end up tossing glass rather than setting it aside because it’s a hassle. And I wish Metro took plastic bags, too. I tend to use them as trash bags in smaller trash cans, and places like Kroger also have bins out front to collect them for recycling. McKays used bookstore also collects and reuses them. It would definitely be easier if Metro would just accept them like everything else, though.

  • Anonymous

    I am all for recycling. It used to be easy for me since there were those huge bins in the Wal-mart parking lot close to where I live. They have since removed those and no one knows where to take their recyclables.
    Now I have 5 bags of plastics in my kitchen and a huge box of paper/cardboard. I can’t bring myself to just toss it in the dumpster.
    It would be great if someone (insert city official here) would give us Nipper’s Corner residents a hand with this.

  • rowmyboat

    If it's that the bins are full, you can call Metro and request an additional bin.

  • rowmyboat

    If it’s that the bins are full, you can call Metro and request an additional bin.

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