Curb your Enthusiasm

Why is it that a small city like Concord, NC has a simple, easy-to-use recycling program accessible to just about every resident, but a big, sophisticated city like Chicago still expects me to toss my recycling in with the trash and hope God sorts it all out?

Spending a week in Corncob didn't just inspire me to muse about sidewalks. I also took out the recycling, in a pair of plastic tubs -- one blue, the other green. Compare that to my frustrating trips to the recycling center: the 7 Eleven which has graciously allowed the local recycling coalition to park three big rusting containers in their parking lot.

Since moving here, we have tried to continue to do the right thing, separating our trash from our plastic, glass, metal and paper. And we have crammed these things into the big containers, which are nearly always overflowing, even though we now also must separate our different types of paper into different containers.

Daley constantly touts Chicago's green credentials. We've got a green roof on top of City Hall, don't you know. Of course, you aren't allowed to go up there. But there are other green roofs in the city, too. And we just hosted a big green building conference.

All fine and good, but the mayor of Concord never claims to have a green city or even care that much about the environment, and they still have a better recycling program. If you don't live in one of the handful of wards with blue can recycling, you can either toss your recycling into blue bags that might, maybe, possibly be sorted out from the trash at a city facility -- or drive your newspapers, bottles and cans to the 7 Eleven where there's never enough room for it all.

Chicago produces plenty more garbage than Concord and ought to be better prepared to handle it all. No one here should be allowed to call Southerners hicks as long as places like Concord are more progressive on recycling.