LiveGreenNOW

By Emma Chapman

I have delayed signing up for recycling in New Orleans since becoming a resident here. I am aware that Phoenix Recycling offers a biweekly pickup service – but it costs $15/month and doesn’t provide bins. All I have is cardboard boxes that I’m afraid to use as receptacles for fear they will simply get wet in one of New Orleans’ infamous rainstorms and be rendered useless. So, I’ve been letting my recycling accumulate in the hopes that the city would magically begin a curbside pickup service. Unfortunately, this has yet to happen…

My parents visited me in New Orleans for the first time this weekend, and I decided to take advantage of their rental car by taking all my recyclables to a local drop off location. Our first stop was the Euterpe Recycling Center, a Central City drop off location for aluminum and plastic products. While we were startled to find that it was merely a board with two holes through which to place the recyclable products, it is obviously very widely used – each receptacle was full.

From there, we continued on to The Green Project, a warehouse store that resells salvaged building materials and also serves as a recycling center. They recycle most products, including cardboard, newspaper, aluminum, and e-waste, but cannot accept plastic.  For their services, The Green Project asks for a $1-$5 donation, which we gladly gave.

Overall, we covered 15 miles roundtrip in our quest to recycle normal household products. Before our trip, I hadn’t realized that New Orleans not only lacked a curbside pickup program but also accessible and substantial drop off locations. While both the Euterpe Recycling Center and The Green Project are providing a fantastic service to New Orleans residents, it’s disappointing that neither offers comprehensive services for recycling. This is a stark difference from what I’m used to; I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia – a city of 42,000 people that offers curbside pickup alongside an accessible drop off recycling center that recycles over 5 million pounds of products each year.

New Orleans needs leadership that will work to institute a similar program, which is why I’m excited about the efforts of NOLA Recycles 2010. This organization is a group of citizens working to “influence the mayoral race and elect a mayor who will develop a comprehensive waste management” that includes curbside recycling. They have an online statement for mayoral candidates to sign that includes the following six-point plan for New Orleans waste management:

1. Resume curbside recycling

2. Prevent illegal dumping

3. Provide safe disposal options for household hazardous waste

4. Require the recycling of construction and demolition waste in city projects

5. Charge the Department of Sanitation with the promotion and expansion of recycling

6. Begin a recycling program and recycled products purchasing policy in City Hall

The full petition can be found at this link. I’m not aware of whether or not any mayoral candidates are paying attention to this issue, but waste management is one of the basic services that should be provided by government, and it should be considered along other important issues such as crime, economic development, education. I hope that the next mayor will take this into consideration.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am and is filed under Green Growth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.