Alledgedly

... Austin is a super green city. Allegedly. So many people have told us this since we moved here (although I suppose I should mention that most of them are from Austin... hmmm...) Turns out, not so much. Indulge me my mini rant...

First of all, my office does not recycle. What?? OK, they recycle paper. But only white paper. And only in one minuscule bin that you have to get up and walk halfway across the office to get to. What happened to the blue recycling bin under everyone's desk? Apparently that's unheard of. What's even more unheard of-- to me anyway-- is that there is no recycling for plastic containers, colored paper, or, most shockingly, cans. What office doesn't have a recycling bin for soda cans? Do they not notice how many Diet Cokes are consumed on a daily basis around here?? My first few days here, I was all confused... wandering around looking for the elusive recycling bins. Now that I've been clued in, I've taken to bringing my own paper bag to collect my recyclables so that I can take them home once a week and dispose of them properly. Does that make me the crazy hippie from the Northwest? Probably. But, seriously, throwing away a can physically pains me.

While our apartment complex does offer a bit more in the recycling department, they do not have a program for recycling glass. Again, what?? How difficult could it be? J is actually 10x the OCD recycler that I am, and this seriously keeps him up at night. He claims he is going to find a way for us to recycle our glass items, so he insists that we keep everything until he does. This means we have 2 months of glass containers (let's be honest: wine bottles) piling up in our closet. And two months of "glass containers" is a significant quantity.

Further, I am going to out the University of Texas on this one, because I think it's particularly shameful. I would have to imagine that the school has a robust recycling policy in effect somewhere, but at a school-sponsored tailgate event I recently attended, the only place the hundreds of attendees could put their empty Miller Lite cans was in the trash. And UT + tailgate + free beer = a shocking number of cans in the trash. If the school can't set a good example, I'm not sure who's going to.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that any random, podunk town in Washington is greener than Austin. Red town, blue town, tiny village, or big metropolis, recycling is just kind of a given. Until Austin gets this most basic of green activities under control, it most certainly cannot pride itself on its green-ness.

End rant.