Portland Tax Payers: Left With Scraps as City "Comes ‘Right into Kitchen’" to "Change Habits"

February 4, 2010

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I already compost some food scraps (and indeed am in need of another composter), but in its overweening need to be precious and “green” and “be a leader” in something–excepts jobs and businesses–the City of Portland is now asking us to forgo weekly garbage pick up in order to participate in the city’s newest fad: recycling table scraps. Oh, you already do that? Your parents and grandparents already do that–and have been for years? Too bad.

But the city is planning to punt garbage collection from weekly to once every two weeks to help cover the extra cost of picking up the food-and-yard-waste cart weekly. Based on other cities’ experiences, food waste collection and non-weekly garbage service — at the same cost or more — will shock a lot of customers.
“We’re coming right into their kitchen saying, ‘Please change your habits,'” said Bruce Walker, Portland’s solid waste and recycling manager.

I’m sure at some point during the discussion of this effort–which the Zero writes last night has been five years in making–(uh, huh), someone will call this a job ‘stimulator,’ but all I know is my garbage won’t be picked up every week and we’ll be charged even higher prices. It doesn’t sound like this plan will stimulate anything except the need for more vector control and smell abatement.
Has anyone mentioned decomposing food stinks? Has anyone mentioned that decomposing food attracts rats and other vermin?
I already compost. I don’t need a higher bill for something I largely already do. Can’t you busy bodies at City Hall just do fire, police and buildings and just leave the rest of us alone? Don’t you have guys at City Hall have some sex change operations to pay for or something?

Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com