Everything's a Trash Can

We're all creatures of habit, yeah, I know.

But have you noticed that when a business tries to do the right thing and puts out recycling containers near its trash receptacles, many members of the oblivious public proceed to dump trash into both containers, without regard to the large and obvious signs that say GLASS AND ALUMINUM ONLY, or paper only, or whatever?

I was at my neighborhood Dunn Brothers coffee shop the other day and saw this in action. They've started buying recyclable plastic cups for water and cold drinks, and have put out a receptacle for the used cups. But if you peer inside, you'll see that at least half the content is not plastic cups. It's napkins and food and plates and just about anything else the shop generates.

This is one of the things that going to the Living Green Expo makes you hyper-aware of. At LGE, instead of trashcans, they have sets of at least three receptacles around the building -- recycling, trash, and compostables. I remember the first time I saw this at the first LGE, I was fascinated. Each set of receptacles has a person staffing it to make sure that people put things in the right container.

I know it's a process for us to become aware of the waste we create and where it ends up. But it doesn't seem that hard to pay a little bit of attention to what the big and obvious signs say on the recycling (not trash!) containers.

I'll bet someone is doing a study on this right now.