this one is long, but stick with me...

at the beginning of the year tom made a phone call that effected our whole household, including brooks. we spent many months weathering the storm, trying to manage on our own, when finally he had had enough. i'm not even sure i knew what he was doing, but i am so thankful he made the executive decision. he called the new management at deffenbaugh and asked them if they would pick up our recycling even though we don't use them to pick up our trash. we had been rejected in the past, but tom was willing to give the new ownership a chance to make things right.

we live in merriam, not overland park, and therefore we have the freedom to choose what company we use to pick up our trash. after a few run-ins with the deffenbaugh service men (foul language was used and it almost came to blows) we looked into our other options. most people in the area use the monopolizing company but we noticed a few cans around the neighborhood displaying the simple name "A-1". they were nice big, green, trash cans. clean looking, even for containers of waste. we gave them a call and found that the price was the same, for all intents and purposes, and since the switch we have not been disappointed.

perhaps i've blogged about our local company, our trash man in particular. he's a younger guy who mostly works solo driving the nice white truck around. even the vehicle seems better, i've never noticed it spewing black toxins into the air. the most significant part of the switch, at the time at least, was the personality differences. deffenbaugh workers toss the trash into the back of the truck willy-nilly and don't mind if some of the waste falls on the ground. they assume the homeowner will come out later and pick up the trash that the trash men left. our guy (i wish i could remember his name. kevin, maybe?) "kevin" we'll call him, always picks up trash that gets scattered, although this rarely happens because his truck has the handy claw that lifts the whole can into the truck to optimize dumping. so what, he's a thorough trash man. no, there's more.

we've been using A-1 for at least two, maybe three years. as soon as wyatt was old enough to look out the front windows he would run to see this guy do his job every wednesday morning. and "kevin" would look over to the front windows and wave. that's right, wave and smile at little mesmerized wyatt. it took a long time but wyatt eventually starting waving back.

i'll admit, i'm partial to the mom-n-pop businesses out there, and A-1 is just one of them. i leave goodies out on the trash can for "kevin"; cookies or candy, just something to let him know that his is not a completely thankless job. i leave the same stuff out for postman tom, but he's exceptionally nice too. (i could post about him, he actually plays with yuma. a mailman who is not afraid of dogs.)

but here's where we hit a snag. A-1 does not recycle. since they're so small it's just not in their abilities. so being responsible citizens we stockpiled our recyclables in our garage, being careful to sort them accordingly. plastics, glass, paperboard, newspapers. it quickly became a nightmare, especially when were getting the newspaper EVERY DAY. imagine it, if you can, our one car garage filled with plastic tubs containing trash. yum. the only time it really felt great and worthwhile was when i would pile the 4-runner with the tubs (front seat full, back hatch loaded, bins at the feet of the kids and in between their seats) and we'd haul it off to the center. then wyatt (cass was usually asleep, or occupied with food) would get out and help me dump it in the giant trash cans. this is what it was about, preserving our God-given creation so that wyatt and many generations after him could enjoy it. it's what kept me going, forced me to break down every butter box and yogart tub. and as the kids started singing songs i found one that rolls off their tongues -- jack johnson's "reduce, reuse, recycle." no lie.

and now i feel spoiled because everyday i use something that can be recycled i open up my door to the garage and toss it into this nice green rectangular container. that's right, deffenbaugh has decided that they will pick up our recycling even if we don't use their trash service. and all this luxury for a minimal fee, less than driving to the recycling center 20 minutes away. not to mention the stockpiling. now when i recycle it's a moment of true satisfaction instead of a labor of love. and i find i'm recycling more. i don't debate if it's really worth breaking down the tiny instant pudding box. it's two seconds of my time and one less thing in the landfill.

this last month we started getting the paper again. i read an article about recycling and the percentages of waste that go into landfills that can actually be recycled. the article states, "In 2007, the EPA says, Americans produced 254.1 million tons of household trash." what bothered me the most was that by weight 32.7% of that was paper and paperboard. that's packaging, people. cereal boxes, tissue boxes, newspapers, diaper boxes. this is stuff that doesn't even require you to rinse it out. it's the cleanest trash you have. and yet 1/3 of our trash comes from these easy-to-recycle items. it's not like it's glass. you have to hunt down places to take your empty glass bottles. it's not plastic, which usually means it contained something that needs to be washed out so you don't get that icky leftover smell. it's paper. so i keep breaking down and rinsing out in that hopes that maybe one day as wyatt's driving north to the airport he won't be disgusted by the trash that's seeping into the river. maybe.



to read the article click here:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/1086999-p2.html