OK, my neighbor won't recycle. What to do?

[Kimberly]

This is terrifically funny thread with CTyankee trying vainly to stop making an ass of herself after totally making an ass of herself. It's obvious she posted this to bask piously in the warm glow of compliments for her concern for mother earth. Well, it just doesn't quite work out the way she planned.

Check it out

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:14 PM
Original message
OK, my neighbor won't recycle. What to do?
 They've not recycled since they moved in over a year ago. Now we have simpler, "single stream" recycling, easier than ever, and they still don't. We even got new containers from the city with clear instructions. There's a city ordinance that requires recycling but they don't comply.

What to do? Everybody on our street recycles. Our entire neighborhood is rated the best in New Haven for recycling. Yet they do not.

We are all at wits end with them. We can't understand. They are perfectly nice to talk to. No problem there. But we don't know how to handle this problem.

Maybe we are being unreasonable, but we like the fact that we all do our duty and recycle stuff. We are happy with the new program because we don't have to separate the stuff the way we used to. It all goes into one bin. AND our garbage is reduced!

Any suggestions?

dionysus  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:17 PM
Response to Original message
2. hmm, i'd ask him, tell them you're curious why they don't. see what he says.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:24 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. It's uncomfortable, that's why we don't.
 I've thought about asking our alderman to drop by and in the course of his visit he could mention the recycling...

They also have a car parked in front of their house with a flat tire...been there for two months. We just can't understand why that wasn't taken care of. But it is not any of our business so...

Maybe a different ethos...I don't know. They don't have loud parties or kids who act up, like the people who were there before them. So we're grateful for that.

Do you think the alderman route is the best way to go?

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:37 PM
Response to Reply #12
25. Yes, we know our alderman very well. He is very visible on our block.
 We could do that and I have thought long and hard about it. I thought he might approach it by asking how they thought the new recycling program worked for them and seeing what they had to say.

It's probably the best idea...the alderman lives a few blocks away so he wouldn't be in direct proximity to them...

taterguy  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:28 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. Grow a pair
 What's the worst that could happen if you talked to them?

Your alderman probably has better things to do.

From a Golden Rule perspective I'd much rather get that speech from a neighbor if I wasn't recycling.

 

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:40 PM
Response to Reply #14
26. I thought about going over and talking to them about how wonderful it was that we had
 the new recycling program, how easy it was, etc. but it would be hard to get a "spontaneous" conversation going since I never see them outside of their house except to get in their cars and leave. Which is very different from other neighbors who are often outside doing stuff...

 

RamboLiberal  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 11:16 AM
Response to Reply #9
211. Car with the flat - usually you can report those to the city
 And if tags are out of date they can be towed. They might also tag that car if it looks like it is not being driven.

As to the recycling - if your city doesn't enforce it I would not get my shorts in a twist over it.

 

noamnety  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 12:45 PM
Response to Reply #211
237. She could do that, sure.
 But the car isn't hurting her in any way.

Normally when people have cars like that in their yard, it's a clue they have money problems. Why create major extra expenses for someone who might already be struggling to stay afloat?

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 03:29 PM
Response to Reply #237
249. Well, it's an eyesore for one thing. And these folks have more than one car,
 even tho this is an old one. My guess is that it belongs to someone else...and he or she can't get to it just yet...but I really don't know...

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #254
258. what is this class issue with you? Are you the spokesperson for the downtrodden?
 Ilove the way some people are getting all saintly on me. We happen to be a middle class neighborhood, nothing fancy here. I drive an 11 year old car. It's not fancy but hey, it's paid for and I'm gonna keep driving it till it doesn't pay to drive it anymore. My husband routinely took the bus to work and still goes downtown that way. He was a city worker, union (AFSME) member.

Why do you judge us? You've never seen our street, our houses, our people. You do us an injustice.

noamnety  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 04:42 PM
Response to Reply #258
260. "why do you judge us?"
 Yes, it's very upsetting when people stand around judging others. It sucks, doesn't it?

At least I'm just a random username on the internet. It would suck worse if it were your friends and neighbors doing it.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:29 PM
Response to Reply #63
80. My guess is that they put everything in the garbage bags...that would probably be 
 the easiest...even my husband used to do this until I put my foot down and said not to do it any more. So we're no better than anybody else...but the city's program makes sense and it makes it easier for everything. Plus, they had an aggressive community educational campaign...what does it take?

The Straight Story  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:22 PM
Response to Original message
7. I am guessing if you say something to them they will say "our garbage, our choice" or Mind your own 
 business

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. Nobody wants to say anything for fear of insulting them.
 We tend to be a quiet, New England type group on our street. We are very diverse, but we all seem to have a group ethic...funny because we ARE so different in so many ways...but this family seems to diverge from us on this issue. I think they just don't know what to do about recycling so I think it is an issue of kind of "educating" people...but that sounds so paternalistic...

The Straight Story  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:29 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. Let me make this simple
 You can simply walk over and ask them about it, or mind your own business an accept that they may be different than you. I live in a hood with 86 other houses, no one recycles, and if we all did and one neighbor didn't I wouldn't make it my business.

 

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:44 PM
Response to Reply #17
32. That has been my conclusion. However, since we pride ourselves in our
 section of New Haven as being the neighborhood that recycles the most, we are very conscious of the issue. Even the neighborhood with all the Yalies doesn't compare to us, so it's not a matter of elitism!

We are so diverse here, black and white, gay and straight, young and old, it's hard for us to accept. We vote hugely liberal Democratic in every election.

So this gets to us...

REP  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 10:05 PM
Response to Reply #32
58. Add one more diversity: recyclers and non-recyclers
 It IS about elitism: you like being the neighborhood that recycles more than "the Yalies" which I'm sure means something where you live. You can't stand it that someone is NOT CONFORMING. You have two choices: ask them about it or get a new hobby.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:17 PM
Response to Reply #58
69. Oh, god. We all have plenty of hobbies...c'mon, you know what I'm saying...
 You know what? I think we have just put a finger on one of our problems here at DU! Progressives are big conformist freaks! Wow, it's pretty elitist of us to "conform" to the progressive idea of recycling...I never thought I'd see the day when this was so twisted around on DU, but I guess i was wrong... 

REP  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 10:21 PM
Response to Reply #69
73. Yes, worrying about your neighbor's nonconformity is super progressive
 Lacking the spine to just ask about the recycling is a portrait in courage.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:26 PM
Response to Reply #73
77. Really, well mr. profile in courage, what do YOU do up against this kind of thing?
 It ain't easy...and you know it...don't even try to be cute.

REP  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 10:37 PM
Response to Reply #77
86. Me? If it really bothered me that much, I'd just TALK TO THEM. It's really that easy. 
 And I'm a chick. Have been my whole life. 

sandnsea  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:26 PM
Response to Original message
10. Maybe they watched Penn & Teller
 They did a programon recycling that showed it wasn't effective and actually costs more. You can poke holes all through it of course, but if someone doesn't know that, they might believe it.

I started recycling more when I got an easy system to do it. Fold and flatten dry food boxes in one container, rinse plastics and glass containers, papers in another container. It saves space that way. Maybe they just don't have a system?

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:31 PM
Response to Reply #10
18. We just switched to "single stream." No excuses. Everything goes in a big bin,
 supplied by the city. No flattening boxes or separating items. Everything...newspapers, bottles, jars, cans, cardboard...all get tossed into the big bin and you can just roll it down to the curb...no separate bins to lift. The garbage is now in a smaller bin, also a roll-down. We have less garbage because MORE can go in the big recycling bin...

I'm so grateful for the new system. I just don't get why they don't get it...

Egalitariat (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:29 PM
Response to Original message
16. Maybe you could offer changing one aspect of your lifestyle in order to meet with their approval...
 in order to have them do the same thing for you. Then y'all could get together regularly to hold each other accountable.

 

scarletwoman  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:32 PM
Response to Original message
20. Dress up in biodegradeable trash bags and burn a recycling symbol on his lawn.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:35 PM
Response to Reply #20
22. OMG! We're not THAT crazy!!!
 Hey, we're good CT progressives. We try to do our duty. Are we THAT bad for wanting to have neighbors who obey the laws on recycling? When did that get to be a terrible thing?

Demeter  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #34
47. +1000 Wanting to control others' behavior is not a progressive value.
 Just listen to yourself for a minute, Connecticut.

Why don't you buy your neighbor out, and get someone more acceptable to move in? If conformity is that important to you, no cost, no ugliness, no unkindness is too great.

Fretting over the neighbor's "unneighborliness" of not following the community ethos is in itself not neighborly.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:07 PM
Response to Reply #47
60. Excuse me, we have a VERY diverse community, neighborhood and block.
 We have black and white, young and old, Orthodox Jewish/Roman Catholic, Protestant/Atheist, gay and straight. But we all seem to agree on recycling...surprise!

Good Lord, I'm not suggesting we burn a cross on their lawn, for chrissake! We have local ordinances that, guess what, make SENSE! I am NOT demanding conformity. I'm asking for suggestions to help them get with the recyling program.

Sheesh, you'd think I was a member of the KKK....what is everybody drinking or smoking tonight?

notadmblnd  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 10:20 PM
Response to Reply #60
71. Don't you think that if it is a law-
 that the entity that picks up the trash can see just as easily as you that your neighbors aren't following the recycling rules and if it was a problem- that- that pick up entity would let them know they were in violation?


In our neighborhood, the collection company charges more if you want to recycle.

 

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:23 PM
Response to Reply #71
74. The city picks up the garbage. It must not matter to them...and perhaps they don't see it as
 their job...and that's fine. It's nobody's job but the neighbor's and that's the problem as I see it. I realize it is a privacy issue which is why it is vexing to me. I want to be respectful of their privacy...

notadmblnd  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 10:32 PM
Response to Reply #74
81. Well if the only problem that you can see is your neighbor's garbage
 Then you spend entirely too much time on your hands. There's an old lady across the street from me. An old German woman who I've dubbed the neighborhood Nazi. She has given me a hard time Since I moved in. She stares out her window constantly and can tell you who comes and goes, what time and how long they stayed. I feel sad for her, she must be very lonely. However, I am sick and tired of her making me so uncomfortable that I don't even spend time outside in my yard. The last straw was when she came over threatening to call the police on my son because someone was egging her house. I called the police for her. Turned out it was her long time neighbor's grandson who was spending the summer with them. Do you think she came and apologized? NO. she was just worried now because the police had her name.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:40 PM
Response to Reply #81
89. Oh, boy, now I'm an old and sad lady, a neighborhood nazi.
 God, the crew tonight has some real stereotypes going...

Well, good night and best wishes to all. thanks for participating. I'm going to bed (after I turn on my infrared cameras to record what my neighbors are doing in their bedrooms!)

Hah!

Bunny  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 09:41 PM
Response to Original message
28. Mind your own business.
 Seriously. Not everyone is going to live like you, no matter how upsetting that may be

.

Brickbat  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:51 PM
Response to Original message
40. Either report 'em or do nothing.
 Or, you know, be a grown up and talk to them about it.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #40
48. Look I'm a senior citizen. I'm not a child so please don't patronize me.
 We happen to be an environmentally sensitive neighborhood. It's what we do. We're not stuffy and overbearing about it, it's just who we are. And it's the big reason that the city piloted the "single stream" program with us, not the Yale neighborhood (which gets all the credit for being so frikking "progressive").

At least, we try...

Sea Witch (69 posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 09:38 AM
Response to Reply #171
179. I still suggesting asking yourself why someone else not doing what you want them to do
 is so incredibly upsetting to you. This really isn't about the neighbors, this is about your emotional response to their behavior. They are not your children. They are adults and they deserve a modicum of privacy ESPECIALLY since you say they are good neighbors and have never caused any trouble. Your perusing this will cause drama and stress where there is none, except coming from you.

I'm going to leave it at that because I don't believe you will hear anything anyone says to you except what you want to hear. Everyone else is just mean and picking on you.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 04:39 PM
Response to Reply #179
259. I'm sorry, my health insurance doesn't cover your psychiatric counseling.
 So I can't pay your bill for diagnosing my psychological disorder.

Sorry to put you thru all that trouble for nothing...

[Chris_]

I'd love to move near this person too.  The non-recycling neighbor & I could make her head explode.

[Kimberly]

Well, it is a long thread. So here's some more silliness.

Kerrytravelers   (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:55 PM
Response to Original message
46. I'd consult my local police department, especially if the dealth penalty is used in your state.
 

Just kidding. Could be they don't know what all the bins are for. If they're new, they might have other things on their mind. Next time you see them pull the garbage bin out, maybe say something like "the city will pick up your recycling today, too."

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 10:01 PM
Response to Reply #46
54. I thought about that but they're never out (except to go to and from their cars).
 Most other folks are out at least some time...we have neighbors chatting all the time.

I doubt that they don't know what the bins are for. The city has been good with circulating several messages, both on the phone and in our mailboxes and doorsteps, about recycling. They give us free bins that are easy to manage. "Single stream" is extremely easy...everything in one big roll down bin, no separating.

It is exasperating to me, as a progressive in a progressive community, to see this happening. It just is...

Synicus Maximus (519 posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 10:16 PM
Response to Reply #54
68. You don't want to talk to them about it, you don't want to report them
 to the authorities but you want them to do as you do. If it bothers you so much why don't you go and separate their trash for them so it may be recycled.

Kerrytravelers   (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 10:24 PM
Response to Reply #54
76. Have you seen the film "Serial Mom"?
 Kathleen Turner has a very creative solution for her neighbor who won't recycle.

 

Ender Wiggin (1 posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 11:12 AM
Response to Reply #54
210. Other options...
 1. Perhaps you could kidnap their child(ren) and demand they recycle as ransom.

2. You could see if Yale is pioneering anything new in mind control psychology/technology, so you can simply bend them to your will. I know you despise those elitist Yalies, but you have to employ the resources available.

3. Start surreptitiously placing For Sale signs in their yard when they're not home. They'll get the hint eventually.

4. Put your extra recycling in their containers. Maybe they'll be outraged by the territorial intrusion and start putting their own recycling in there to block you.

5. Take out a full page ad in the NH Register with a photo of them, and the headline Recycling Blasphemers!, to shame them into compliance.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Mon Aug-23-10 11:37 AM
Response to Reply #210
215. I like your option #2 best. #3 won't work, they're renters.
 #5 has possibilities but ads are expensive...I guess the other neighbors could pitch in, tho.

Yup, mind control is the better way to go. I don't despise the Yalies...some of my best friends are, well, ya know...

Thanks for the comedic relief! You gave me a big laugh!

And then this appears. Scratch a liberal and find a fascist, indeed.

NJCher  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-22-10 10:28 PM
Response to Original message
79. turn them in
 I think it's disturbing how many people think this is an issue of "minding your own business." This shows a lack of comprehension about what laws are about. Recycling is to protect the environment and therefore to protect all of us. It isn't optional. It isn't about pressing your values on someone else. It's the law.

Oh, I just murdered somebody but because murder doesn't violate your code of ethics, you won't turn me in? Try that on for size.

My neighbor didn't recycle and I didn't even think twice about calling the city and ratting him out. The recycling department paid a personal visit and then he recycled once. Then he quit, so I called again and the recycling department said they would open his trash bags to check on him.

You should take a series of pictures of the street with everyone else's recycling out and their house with no containers of recyclables out. Time and date stamp. Why should you do this? Because there is a term called "ongoing," and that means if they get taken to court over this, they can get fined for every date that you have a photograph showing no recycling put out.

Those of you who witness recycling being dumped in with the regular trash should contact the facilities director and tell them what you saw. Tell them what you want them to do and then continue to watch to be sure the person you contacted followed through. Take pics on your cell phone with a time and date stamp and send them via email to document that you complained.

Republicans like to yammer on about "personal responsibility" but this is what that term means to me. All of us can take a little action to protect Mother Earth.

Cher

alphafemale  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #79
101. Yeah. maybe we can send them to internment camps or something.
 Sending authorities to sift through peoples trash.

Yeah.

That's...important.

Let's criminalize how people do trash.

Nye Bevan  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 11:07 PM
Response to Reply #79
104. YES. *Investigate* and *report* them.
 Edited on Sun Aug-22-10 11:26 PM by Nye Bevan
And when you have turned them in for not recycling, check their car registration stickers to make sure they are not out of date. Inform the DMV if necessary. Then check their tire treads and report any violations. Peek in their garden to check for pot plants. And go through their trash to check for any evidence of and other illegal activity.

We *need* more Americans like you to inform on their neighbors, to make this country a better place.

And BTW, the "murder" analogy is excellent. Because not complying with recycling ordinances is *very* similar to murder.

NJCher  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 12:44 AM
Response to Reply #104
123. ignorance of the law 
 You and the preceding poster are again showing your ignorance of the law.

First of all, did you know that whatever you put out at the curb is legally accessible to anyone? Yes, I can come over and go through your trash if I want to and I can't get into any trouble with the law for doing so.

Research it yourself and you will find I know what I'm talking about.

So you act like this is some big infringement of privacy? Yeah, I'll just bet you're out there demonstrating against full-body scanners at the airport, too.

I chose the murder analogy on purpose to demonstrate how inconsistent your "logic" is. The principle is the same. You cannot approach the law on a continuum based on how "seriously" you judge the offense. What kind of justice system would that be?

The rest of your post is full of absurdities.

We have the world in upheaval with much of it due to climate change and yet you will sit here and defend some slob who doesn't care enough to recycle. You have a serious problem with your values, both of you.

Cher

 

Violet_Crumble  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #123
167. Urgh...
 First of all, did you know that whatever you put out at the curb is legally accessible to anyone? Yes, I can come over and go through your trash if I want to and I can't get into any trouble with the law for doing so.

Research it yourself and you will find I know what I'm talking about.

So you act like this is some big infringement of privacy?

Nah, it's just damn creepy and reminds me of how stalkers like doing it. Glad I don't have recycling Nazis living anywhere near me...

NJCher  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 06:11 PM
Response to Reply #176
274. keep the humility
 See post 132. Keep your humility and self-abasement; I'm not interested.

It's real easy to be cavalier about observing laws when you have, as the cliche says, "no skin in the game." Once you've written ordinances, presented them to the town council, worked on the environmental committee, gone out campaigning for the ordinance, a deeper commitment evolves.

I have done these things and that is why I take this laziness on the part of the neighbor more seriously than some on this thread.

It comes down to this: what is more important? A clean environment or looking the other way so you can make things easier on yourself?

Cher 

 



 

[USA4ME]

What a whack-job.   

.

[Chris_]

Those pro-recyclers are nuts.  WTF?  Call the cops?  Did a mole post that?  I really hope so. 

I should call 911 and report someone for not putting their water bottle in the appropriate bin.  Let's see how annoyed the dispatcher gets with me....

[Chris_]

What a ****ed-up world liberals live in.  Brad Pitt wants BP executives put to death and these little Neighborhood Nazis want to call the SA on you for not separating your trash.

No wonder people don't talk to their neighbors anymore. 

[PatriotGame]

NJCher  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-23-10 06:11 PM
Response to Reply #176
274. keep the humility
 See post 132. Keep your humility and self-abasement; I'm not interested.

It's real easy to be cavalier about observing laws when you have, as the cliche says, "no skin in the game." Once you've written ordinances, presented them to the town council, worked on the environmental committee, gone out campaigning for the ordinance, a deeper commitment evolves.

I have done these things and that is why I take this laziness on the part of the neighbor more seriously than some on this thread.

It comes down to this: what is more important? A clean environment or looking the other way so you can make things easier on yourself?

Cher

BuuuuuuullShit 'Cher'!

You are just another DUmmy pre-programmed mental-midget Kool-Aid suckling keyboard commando who rarely pulls her 380lb mile-wild ass out of the chair let alone initiating and pushing through ANY legislation.
You are just a back stabbing commie that calls the cops on your neighbors if they don't cut their grass when YOU think they should.

Deep down in hell, Lenin is smiling and salivating over your scheduled arrival.

[Mike220]

scarletwoman  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:32 PM
Response to Original message
20. Dress up in biodegradeable trash bags and burn a recycling symbol on his lawn.

I chuckled a bit at that.

Demeter  (1000+ posts)         Sun Aug-22-10 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #34
47. +1000 Wanting to control others' behavior is not a progressive value.

Bull-SHIT! Micromanagement of the proles is the core of progressivism.

[Celtic Rose]

You know, if CTYankee bothered to actually try to talk to their neighbors about neighborly stuff, they wouldn't have such a difficult time talking about issues.    Does it cost more to recycle?  Some areas do charge extra.  Maybe they are from a place that charged extra, and they don't know that it is free.  Maybe they did see the study that recycling is worse for the environment. Who knows, because he is too chicken to ask.  

[Chris_]

I wish my neighborhood recycled.  I'm getting tired of hauling away all these beer cans.

[IassaFTots]

I read that thread earlier, and I got too dizzy to post.  Holy freaking Moses!  Chris, beer cans are lighter than beer bottles.  Just sayin.

[Ballygrl]

CTyankee  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Mon Aug-23-10 08:47 PM
Response to Reply #284
323. Well, this couple went on a bus tour and their friends who were also going on the tour
   
parked on our little street and boarded this tour bus which stopped there. We could barely get out of our driveways because their cars were parked on both sides of the street. It was that way for a week in July.

I don't understand. Common sense would tell you that a little street is not a public parking lot!

I don't know of any bus tour that actually picks people up at their homes, there's always a designated area to pick people up.

[Ballygrl]

noamnety  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Mon Aug-23-10 06:22 PM
Response to Reply #277
280. lol
   
Edited on Mon Aug-23-10 06:42 PM by noamnety
I suggested upthread that the nonrecyclers were maybe not the right "class" and she was offended. My other guess was not the right race. Something's not matching the demographics, because even though this is supposedly just about the recycling, it's also about them being the Other in some way.

They aren't part of the "community." They don't get what the neighborhood is about. Their English skills are suspect. They have a car that needs to be fixed. Their vacation was on a bus. They're held responsible for where the bus company told people they could park (presumably parking that the public has a right to use, paid for with public taxes, but still ...). The paternalistic need to explain how recycling works because maybe they aren't smart enough to do it without some help.

And others have caught on, suggesting by association that they might be bringing vermin to the neighborhood or otherwise endangering all their homes by luring arsonists into the neighborhood.

Class or race, I figure it's one or the other or both, but it's more than just recycling given the way the other little complaints keep edging in.

BTW good thread!

[Traveshamockery]

What a bunch of small-minded, whiny, petty, immature, egotistical, stupid ass people those people are.  That whole thread gave me a headache with the back-and-forth sniping and all. 

No wonder they are DUmmies and no wonder they have fallen for the slick slogans of some socialist who could care less about them.

Now, I have beer cans and glass wine bottles to sort!

[DumbAss Tanker]

I wonder if NJ Cher is so scrupulous about obedience to law when it comes to controlled substances?

 

[TheSarge]

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:14 PM
Original message
OK, my neighbor won't recycle. What to do?

How about you just STFU and mind your own business.

[PatriotGame]

I wish my neighborhood recycled.  I'm getting tired of hauling away all these beer cans.

What?

We're supposed to haul away the beer cans?
Without a government program to do it for us?
Surely you jest...

/DUmmy

[debk]

She'd have a field day with us.....we don't put our garbage out to be picked up....

Since we live in the country, we have a choice...we can pay to have the garbage picked up, or take it to the dump for free. When M found out how much I was paying the garbage company to come down to the house to get it....he went sort of ballistic.    And since Rocky Raccoon had figured out how to open the bin and check out what was in it, by tossing it all over the place.....

He loads it up once or twice a week and takes it to the dump. Takes the newspapers to the church, not sure what they do with them, but they want the newspapers. We bag the pop cans, until he gets around to taking them to the scrap guy.

I don't give a rat's tushie, what my neighbor's do with their garbage....as long as it's not strewn out all over the street, because Rocky and his buddies got into it

It's none of my business!  

I'm pretty sure that I would not get along with a neighbor like the OP.....



Wonder if the poster "SeaWitch" is the same, who used to post at usmilnet and I think at military.com? Does anyone here know anything about her? The one who posted at milnet's retired military, living in California,

[Carl]

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Sun Aug-22-10 09:14 PM
Original message
OK, my neighbor won't recycle. What to do?
 They've not recycled since they moved in over a year ago. Now we have simpler, "single stream" recycling, easier than ever, and they still don't. We even got new containers from the city with clear instructions. There's a city ordinance that requires recycling but they don't comply.

What to do? Everybody on our street recycles. Our entire neighborhood is rated the best in New Haven for recycling. Yet they do not.

We are all at wits end with them. We can't understand. They are perfectly nice to talk to. No problem there. But we don't know how to handle this problem.

Maybe we are being unreasonable, but we like the fact that we all do our duty and recycle stuff. We are happy with the new program because we don't have to separate the stuff the way we used to. It all goes into one bin. AND our garbage is reduced!

Any suggestions?

If there is a local law with local services to provide the container and pick it up how then how does one not comply or not be fined as would be expected from a progressive (likely broke) city?

This was nothing more then a cred thread story made up to show...

1)CTDUmmy is a good person saving the planet.

2)Is being opressed by watching his/her good deeds go thwarted by EVIL.

They really always do lie.

[Happy Fun Ball]

If I lived around CTyankee, I would (before moving to a nicer place without nosy busybodies like her) start talking to some of my other neighbors and ask them not to recycle, just to spite her and infuriate her even more.

Oh, and people like NJCher is the epitome of everything that's wrong in this country today.

[zeitgeist]

What?

We're supposed to haul away the beer cans?
Without a government program to do it for us?
Surely you jest...

/DUmmy

Did we room together in college?

[JohnnyReb]

Yep, give your neighbors hell for not recycling, call the trash cops on them... make as difficult as you can to get rid of trash and old household items....then they'll start removing anything with their name on it and start dumping trash on the roadside, down some deadend dirt road or other place....completely negating any environmental efforts.

Stuff gets dumped on my place every once in awhile and most of it is because the county has made it so difficult to get rid of certain things.

[zeitgeist]

Yep, give your neighbors hell for not recycling, call the trash cops on them... make as difficult as you can to get rid of trash and old household items....then they'll start removing anything with their name on it and start dumping trash on the roadside, down some deadend dirt road or other place....completely negating any environmental efforts.

Stuff gets dumped on my place every once in awhile and most of it is because the county has made it so difficult to get rid of certain things.

I see it here all the time.  The city charges like eight bucks for a TV.  Guess where they end up?  Abandoned lots.  Amazing.

[NHSparky]

I wonder what the DUmmies would do when they realize that recycling actually costs MORE money to the towns who do it. 

[thundley4]

I wonder what the DUmmies would do when they realize that recycling actually costs MORE money to the towns who do it. 

I don't know about other places, but our garbage company handles the recycling, and we have to pay a fee that is  included on our water bill.  Why it isn't part of the fee for the garbage company, I have no idea.

Our garbage company will take large items twice a year, but  pickup has to be arranged ahead of time, but there isn't no additional charge.  There is also a place that will take old TV's and other electronics free of charge, but you have to take the stuff to them.  TV's and other things can be left  under an awning on the side of their building.