Garbage In…

An alert “06880” reader writes:

Recycling in Westport recently changed its setup and rules. But I don’t think it’s for the better.

It used to be that you had to separate out magazines from newspapers and cardboard.  Those items of course were separate from plastic, glass and metals.

Many towns still have residents put their recyclables on the curb, with different bins for paper and for the mix of plastic, glass and metal.

Now Westport has “single stream recycling.” Everything goes into one bin. Later on (downstream), someone has to separate it out.  The problem I have is that that someone is a paid municipal employee.  What we used to have residents do for free, we now pay someone to do.

At a time of reduced municipal government spending and services, this makes no sense to me.

The idea behind single stream is to motivate people to recycle more.  Has it worked?

Are there people who didn’t bring their recycling to the transfer station before, because they had to put their papers in a separate bin, and who do now?

I don’t know what percentage of Westporters take their own recycling. I’d love to take a poll at the transfer station to see if people agree with me.