In California we passed proposition 13 many years ago that says they can't raise taxes without a 2/3rds majority vote of the voters. So instead of imposing new "taxes"...they've instilled service charges on EVERYTHING!!! It's like being pecked to death by pigeons!!!!

Joe

I pay $60.00 every 3 months for garbage pick-up... and am allowed to throw away two 25 gallon bags per week. It costs more to recycle through the service that I use.

We are fortunate to have a recycling center down the road that takes plastics, metal, glass and paper. There is no charge for this service. and the township reaps the financial benefit for hosting the site, the money then goes back into the townships general fund.

I often joke with Ben that if things keep going the way they are... there will be less and less garbage to throw away.

I never have to worry about soda or beer cans or bottles because I don't drink any of that stuff. I try to avoid purchasing anything with styrofoam when I can. I also am lucky enough to have a scrap yard nearbye that gives cash for metal.

I guess when we start to consume less there will be less to throw away. Some of the packaging is unavoidable... but there are still alternatives to allot of the waste. I.E. purchasing loose cereals in bulk. Canning your own foods and re-using the bottles.

I often thought that an interesting experiment would be to have a cross section of people from various groups of life weigh the ammount of garbage they produce in a given two week period.

Then... have those same people carry a garbage bag around with them for two weeks and ask them to put all of the garbage they produce into the bags that they must carry.

I'm just curious to know if people would make less garbage if they were aware of how much they produce.

with warm regards,
Tony