The Heap

Pondering Portland

Recent decisions by the city of Portland, Ore., forcing citizens to divert food scraps and acclimate to biweekly trash collection are not going over well. According to this report in The Oregonian, many residents have tried to circumvent the new rules using tactics like bringing trash to work for disposal or taking it to the landfill directly.

It's not that Portlanders object to composting their food scraps, not an implausible practice in a city where restaurant vegetables often carry a return address. Some locals even scrape their plates directly into the big green roller carts, which is not only simple but a real dinner party conversation starter.

But many are still wondering why Portland, like other big cities that moved to curbside composting, couldn't also maintain weekly garbage collection. They're wondering whether, since they're putting out multiple cans for the less frequent garbage truck visits -- an arrival now almost as eagerly awaited as Santa Claus -- they're not actually paying more for less service, even if they do get the consolation that their banana peels will get to decompose with friends.

Click through to read the full tale of woe.

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The Heap is a blog featuring waste industry news and analysis written by the staff of Waste Age magazine and guest commentators.

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Steven Averett

Steven Averett joined the Waste Age staff in February 2006. Since then he has helped the magazine expand its coverage and garner a range of awards from FOLIO, the American Society of Business...

Allan Gerlat

Allan Gerlat joined the Waste Age staff in September 2011 as news editor. He was the editor of Waste & Recycling News for the first 16 years of its history, and under his guidance the...
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