Trash Talk
From May 2007 to January 2008 a number of frogs decided to live without trash cans. Here is what they discovered — and carried with them.
Trash Talk - part deux: final comments from Linda
Correction & Apology - added June 11
In my description of my tour of the King County landfill, I stated that King County does not require recycling or provide pickup. I learned today that I was misinformed, and would like to post a correction I received from a representative of the King County Solid Waste Division:
First, King County ensures that recycling services are available throughout King County, except for Seattle (which manages its own solid waste system) and Milton (which is part of Pierce County's system). While the county does not have authority under state law to collect garbage or recyclables, state law and county policy establish waste reduction and recycling as the highest priority for solid waste management. Like the City of Seattle, the other 37 cities in incorporated King County either have their recyclables collected by hauling companies Waste Management and Allied/Rabanco or they provide the collection themselves. The Solid Waste Division works with these cities to encourage curbside recycling and provides grants to help fund recycling education, promotion, and special events for city residents and businesses. In addition, King County Code requires curbside collection of recyclables in the unincorporated areas of the county, and this service is currently provided by the private hauling companies. As a result of our regional efforts, the county's overall recycling rate for curbside collection in 2006 was 53 percent, one of the highest rates in the nation.
I also wanted to mention that since the 1980s when aggressive recycling began, the useful life of the Cedar Hills landfill has been extended by nine years. Through the aggressive efforts of the county and the cities, we hope to gain another year from our recycling programs before the landfill closes. More about the programs and services offered by the county and the cities can be found on our Web site at:
http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/garbage-recyc...
I sincerely apologize for my misstatement, and am very glad to hear I was wrong about the lack of recycling programs!
Final Comments
I've finished my two weeks of my trash awareness project. I don't really have much to add to the blog at this point. However, I did want to make sure to include a link to an interesting photographic exhibit representing American consumption, sent to me by a friend. And, of course, a photo of me with my collected trash.
That's it for me! Now the project moves to someone in another frog studio.
~Linda
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