Graduate Degree in Trash

Does your municipality require you to study and follow a trash schedule such as this?



Mine does.

• Sunday is a trash holiday
• Monday is burnable trash (a general category for stuff that doesn't fit into the others, however I suppose they assume the average citizen's level of common sense because really, what can't you burn with the proper fuel or accelerant?)
• Tuesday is recyclable paper such as white paper, newspapers, and cardboard. However, don't just put your cardboard out as is. You have to break down all boxes and fold into roughly 2 foot by 1 foot pieces wrapped in packing tape, which is nicer than how I generally wrap Christmas presents.
• Wednesday is a trash holiday except for 2 summer months when I think they take burnable trash an extra day a week.
• Thursday is for pet bottles, glass bottles, and steel cans
• Friday is burnable trash again
• Saturday is for plastic and styrofoam

If you have large objects, you have to pay for a sticker and properly dispose of them, which is quite expensive. Or, you can hail one of the recycling business junk trucks as they cruise the neighborhood a couple times a week shouting at you over a loud speaker the list of crap they will take from you. You probably have to pay them, too, but perhaps not as much. In any case, this system leads to many abandoned washing machines, bicycles, and even cars. Our trash point in particular has had a bicycle sitting there for a month. No one will touch it so it rusts. I could have fixed it by adding a seat and new tires, but then you get in trouble for having a bike that's not yours. In America, it's finders keepers for the most part, but here you can get into trouble even if what you're doing is essentially a good deed. So, again, the bike sits and rusts and is generally a blight on our street.