a99kitten's Musings

This morning I was driving to work. Several cars ahead of me was the garbage truck.  In the span of 1-2 minutes, they lost several beer cans, a soda bottle, the box container for Bud Light, some plastic wrap/packing stuff and other bits of garbage. I watched them fall out and bounce across/around the 2-lane road we were driving on.

Now, this annoyed me on several levels…First, what the hell? You are the garbage collectors. Your job is to pick it up. Not drop it all over the street to blow around and possibly end up in the ocean since we were right by the beach entrance.   I’ve seen the guys when they empty the trash on my street or neighboring streets as I walk the dogs. They take NO care to pick up anything they drop.  I’ve walked around my street and picked up garbage, lying in the street, on sidewalks or on the grass median, that fell out as they were dumping it (or apparently as they drive away.) How hard is your damn job?? Get the garbage you pick up from trashcans and get it into your truck????  I appreciate the service, but you get paid a pretty decent wage to perform this function so do it right (our neighbor works for the local trash collection company – he does pretty darn well.)  But why bother right?? You probably wanted to finish your shift and be done for the day. GRRRR.

Second reason it annoyed the heck out of me, it was almost all recyclables falling out and now littering the street (we have different trucks for trash, recycling and yard-waste recycling.)  Cans, plastic bottles and box/paper. So apparently the trash guys picked up garbage that some lazy jerk filled with easily-recyclable items.  The coastside trash company gives you FREE recycling bins to use. And they will deliver them to you when you move in and start your trash service. Again – how hard is this really?  Why the heck are you so frackin’ lazy that you can’t be bothered to use the free recycle bins, which is then picked up by the company weekly (free – cost for trash collections includes recycling so you pay the same fee even if you never use the recycling service.)  All you have to do is use them and put them out on trash day.

I am not a NorCal coastside-living, tree-hugging, crazy environmentalist. But seriously, how hard is it for people to recycle correctly.  And then for the garbage company to not litter the street with people’s trash?? I love my planet. I really love my country and I sure as hell love where I live and don’t want it to be a craphole due to stupid lazy people and negligence. Have you ever been to Mexico? They don’t do plastics recycling. So after all the soda and juice companies switched from glass to plastic bottles they now just end up in the garbage. Or as we saw a lot of – in piles by the side of the road. Just gorgeous…

So really – use the dang recycle bins and quite being lazy or even worse, just jerks. And to the people whose actual job description (and paycheck) says “trash collector” or “garbage man” – collect the trash the correct way, and keep it in your truck on the way to dumping it. Thanks.