Thursday, August 21, 2008

If you can't beat em, join em


P1010410
Originally uploaded by vicario837
My family's got a drinking problem. Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water to be exact. Which is sold in some locations now as the hipper Roxanne Spring Water. I'm more than embarassed to publicly admit that we go through at least 10 gallons of these babies a week. We've tried alternatives, like a pitcher filter, which worked great for a couple of weeks and then despite frequent rinsing started to actually grow sprouts inside. Did the Pur tap filter thing, which caused the tap water to still taste like well tap water.

Unfortunately crystal geyser, unlike sparkletts, does not make bigger bottles than the gallon size, and we've found no water that tastes better to us. I'd be interested in what solutions others have found to the water situation. I think in order to have good tasting water from the tap we would have to repipe the whole house and add a reverse osmosis filter. We do have sigg bottles now, so we rarely use the smaller plastic bottles anymore, but we're still going through more than our fair share of plastic over here.

Given this, our recycling bin has been paydirt for scavengers. I really didn't mind when an obviously poor family raided our recyling bin, but after I repeatedly saw the same guy make a beeline from the direction of Garey directly to our bin, well I wondered what proceeds I was missing out on. Oh and the fact that the guy looked like he was out stealing old ladies' purses when he wasn't raiding our recycling bin was also a motiving factor in getting rid of that which attracted him.

So for the past couple of months, I've been taking the bottles myself to Greenwize Recyling to the side of our local STater Bros. The same dude is always working there when I go, usually with his ball games being blasted through the generator. Sometimes he is very friendly to me, other times he makes it clear that he is not in the mood to talk. I have tried to get something out of him that would constitute a post, but seems when I'm in the mood to talk, he isn't, and vice versa. Guess he's not the only one guilty of being moody.

With all the bitching and moaning that goes on about the scavengers, one solution that I don't hear is to just take it to recyling yourself. It works out to about $10 a month in mad money around here, and we only have to leave our recycling bin out once a month now.

Hubby took the bottles yesterday. I asked him how recycling dude was acting. I got a definitive "not friendly" answer. I still hold out hope that one day our moods will match and I'll be able to bring you a post on the ups and downs of being the Pomona recycling dude. But for now, he remains something of a mystery.

GREENWIZE RECYCLING
Located on the Northside of the Only STater Brother Left Standing in Pomona
Hours: Monday thru Saturday 8 AM to 5 PM
Closed for LUnch: 1 PM to 1:30 PM each day
Mood: TBA

THE END

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone told me Mission Recycling pays ok...they take magazines and scrap metal too. I have saved up all of my bottles and cans but just need to drive them over. http://www.missionrecycling.com/buyback.html

I've only seen this in Lincoln Park, not anywhere else I've lived, but does anyone else have a problem with people feeling the right to walk into your yard (not the curbside or driveway) to dig thru your trash? A few of my neighbor's yards are not fenced and I often see "weirdos" just walk on in and go throug the trash bins! They get offended when told they are on private property and need to leave!
-Lincoln park resident

me said...

Well, I really can't give my business to Mission Recycling. I attended a City Council meeting where their permit was on the agenda, and watched as several nearby business and property owners' concerns about Mission were ignored by certain council members and most obviously by Mayor Torres. The meeting lasted into the night until Mission was given a stamp of approval. It smelled to high heaven, which was exactly what the neighbors were accusing Mission of. Months aFter the meeting, I came to find out that Mission is also one of Mayor Torres' biggest financial contributors. That was a real AH HA moment. I'm working on a bigger post about all this for before the election.

G of P

Anonymous said...

Goddess...
My sources tell me that if things were really investigated in our fair city, there would be major headlines and arrests for all the payola that has been going on for years.
Since it would bring a chorus of denials I won't type a couple of names I know.
But... my dear fellow voters, look around and open your eyes to the obvious and vote accordingly.
Mark

Anonymous said...

Several years ago we apparently had shenanigans with code enforcement. Word was that properties condemned for code violations were being bought cheaply by silent partners of the code enforcement officials in question. Those individuals have since quietly moved on.
No surprises if Mission had some deal with city officials.

Anonymous said...

I take my stuff to Pomona Recycle corner of oak st. and 2nd they pay good not bad they also take metal,copper and so on

Anonymous said...

Lincoln Park Resident,

Just like you, I have a serious issue with people walking onto our property to dig through our recycling bins. We have asked them kindly and not so kindly, yet the same individuals keep doing it. So we have begun recycling, just as the Goddess.



Another upset Lincoln Park Resident

Anonymous said...

We donate ours to the a gentlemen who's son is in Boy Scouts at my wifes work. Doesn't stop the trash pirates from digging through the regular trash though. Also, it still ultimately hurts the city recycling program, and what happens when they discontinue that because there isnt any profit margin left?

Anonymous said...

We hold off putting out the blue bin until the truck is comming down the street.
As for the black bin... that is when it's handy to have three dogs.
If they want to dig in our black bin they really will earn whatever they find.

Andrew said...

for the water at my house we use BOTH a Pur tap filter AND the brita filter. I usually drink straight from the pur and my gf goes through this process 1. pours from the tap to a tea kettle (sometimes filtered with the pur but usually not. 2. boils the water 3. waits for it to cool and THEN pours it into the brita pitcher filter. 4. pours the filtered water into another dispenser with a lid.
This process ensures that we NEVER get things growing.

It might be a better idea to get an electric kettle instead of using the gas stove.

as for recycling plastic bottles we actually reuse them instead as we rarely buy things in plastic bottles(remember the saying? first reduce, then reuse and if you must recycle). we either put water in them and store it in the fridge so we have cold water. or we put cold teas in the fridge or other cold beverages. AND we cut the others in half and use them as mini "greenhouses" when we grow plants from seeds. they're like perfect little incubators. I'll put pictures on my blog tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I can identify with the mixed feelings about recycling scroungers who sometimes make a mess while they essentially take money that would presumably go to the city. I've given dirty looks to some but handed bags of good stuff to others who looked like they could use the help. I keep aluminum cans for our Stater Brothers friend, but generally give everything else to the city (and the scroungers).

On a related note, I wonder if I'm the only one who practically agonizes about some recycling decisions? The city's printed guides are helpful in some occasions, but they don't cover everything. I already put every scrap of junk mail and paper in our bin, but what about those frozen food boxes that our household churns out in high volume? And while some earlier city guides specifically mentioned only type 1 and 2 plastic containers, other guides leave this out. I usually err on the side of blue bin over black, but I wonder if I'm doing more harm than good at times. Has anyone else ever gotten definitive word from a city source regarding the gray areas of recycling?

Joel

Anonymous said...

We use the refillable 5-gallon water dispensers from the water store on Holt next to the 99 cent store. Water tastes fine to us (and to our pets, who seem averse to city water). For on-the-go needs, I refill either a sports bottle or a plastic bottle -- the hype about this being horrible for my health is less convincing than the image of all those bottles in the landfill.

I can't figure out what all goes in the recycling bin either.

I'm OK with people helping themselves to my recycling once I've put it out on the curb. Heck, at least that way I know it actually gets recycled. (Where I work we have separate trash bins and recycling bins, yet the facilities crew always dumps everything in the same bin, swearing it gets separated later. I wish I understood this process better.) We haven't had any problems with people walking onto our property or anything like that.

An exciting thing happened last month here at the house: we ran out of plastic grocery bags! No more exploding excess in the cupboard. Yay!

Andrew said...

Burrtec does Pomona's recycling. u can probably hit their website to see what they actually recycle. I know that it does change from time to time.

Anonymous said...

We use a britta and fill a pitcher with it then put it in the fridge. This reduces the problem of recycling. Sometimes we break down a buy a 24 case of plastic bottles. We do recycle only cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles. We live in Downtown so there are no recycle bins. It's funny how little we get for all the stuff. I usually go about every 2 or three months and only get about $15 - $20. Wine bottles pull in the least at 1/2 cent a pound. I go to the recycle place on 9th and East End. So its more of a green thing than CRV.

Anonymous said...

In case others find this info helpful...

Our city's website indicates the following materials can be placed in blue recycling bins (a more extensive list than what I remembered):

Aluminum foil/cans/tin cans
Brochures
Cardboard/beverage boxes
Cardboard egg cartons
Cereal boxes (lining removed)
Computer & white paper
Glass bottles/jars (no window glass)
Junk mail/magazines, phone books
Milk jugs/laundry bottles
Newspapers/inserts/coupons
Phone Books
Plastic bottles #1-7

Anonymous said...

Well Goddess, you made a convert! We, too, in Ontario have the "professional" trash diggers (they have newer cars than me)...After reading your blog, I've decided to take my stuff to the recycler and donate the proceeds to my favorite charities who actually help people.

I do have to admit that my hubbie is a jogger and often comes home with perfectly good stuff he sees people throwing out. So I suppose that must make us a bunch of hypocrites....what's worse is my kids now do the same thing by picking up stuff they see put out for trash (they are starving college students). Mr. Big may end like my guys - super thrifty trash diggers!

FYI - LOVE YOUR BLOG!

DMH