Use It or Lose It
Mike laments the dearth of recycling collection services in central Louisiana, but remains determined to demonstrate its need to the powers that be.
One of the weird things about living in this area is that I’m still trying to figure out where to take all the things I’d otherwise recycle. As a result, I’ve basically been hoarding my recyclables with no real answer as to where they’re eventually going to go. I’ve done some basic research and confirmed there are places to drop them off, but there’s no collection service in town—nowhere in Alexandria.
Just this morning, the trash collectors showed up. It’s funny; we always thank military folks for their service, and I’ll be thanking them a lot if things escalate in Ukraine this week, but we often forget the garbage collectors. They’re part of the utility family, which I usually think of as just water and power. But you have to respect them for the sheer undesirability and physical demand of the job. You never know what you’re going to run into on a garbage truck in a shady neighborhood. So, a huge shout-out to the people who pick up our trash every week.
That being said, I want to show you the "shit-pile" I’ve got accumulating here. It’s actually pretty impressive for only about a month’s worth of stuff. I’ve got cardboard, plastic, and metal cans. I need to figure out where this is all going, and here’s the kicker: there’s no one place that takes everything.
Instead of one stop, I have to find a paper drop-off, an aluminum collector, and a plastic processor. I literally have to drive all over Rapides Parish to five different places. I bet it even gets down to the point where one place takes "Number 4" plastic but not "Number 7." It’s a total scavenger hunt.
That’s going to be one of my adventures today — driving around the parish to find where each bag goes. It feels like we’re living in the 1900s here in Alexandria because there isn’t a single recycling collection service in central Louisiana. Go figure.
I feel like I need to write some letters — not angry ones, but just to let people know there’s interest in this kind of initiative. I don’t want to be a "Karen" about it, but if they don’t know people want the service, they’ll never offer it. It’s that classic Catch-22: they don’t provide the infrastructure because they aren’t sure people will use it, which is the same reason we can’t get things like high-speed rail built in this country.
