I got one of these pieces of trash too. I was going to send it to you, Jack, but it looks like I don't have to.

I love this part: "Since the citywide rollout of the new curbside collection service... the amount of yard debris and food scraps collected has increased 3X. Three times more compost for fertilizing yards and gardens."

First of all, did they expect something different? If you make people compost, then it's pretty likely that composting will go up.

Secondly, 3X doesn't sound like such a big increase to me. I would think it would be a lot higher if the process actually worked. But who knows?

And last but not least: why does it say there is three times more compost for yards and gardens? We don't use it for that. Instead of putting compostables in private gardens, people are now shipping them off to the city. This makes no sense.

To all the Stenchy fans out there you have to checkout a story in the Journal this morning about rats in Canada:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444023704577649542478244040.html?KEYWORDS=alberta+rat

The video is hilarious. It sounds like a rat war documentary.

True story: I was in the parking lot of a grocery store in the Hawthorne neighborhood several days ago. It was around 2 in the afternoon and I saw a rat calmly hanging out by the collection point where you return carts. I stopped to watch and it did not seem the least bit rushed, as it basked in the warm sunshine. Ahh, there's nothing like the September sun to bring out the deep browns of a rat's coat. I almost expected to see it still there when I came out.

P.S. I told some employees and they didn't seem all that surprised. I was though. In the decades of shopping there, I never saw a rat in the parking lot before.

I've seen lots of rats at Freddie's on Hawthorne. What really surprised me was when I saw one parking his bike in front of Por Que No. Had special rat bike parking, too.

No rats less chance of plague! Makes sense to me.
After all, Canada does have universal health care and an outbreak of plague would cost millions of dollars.

TacoDave: "Secondly, 3X doesn't sound like such a big increase to me."

Especially because before the program most households didn't bother to put out the yard waste cart at all for at least half the year, probably more.

Many, many,many (ok, many) moons ago I worked at the Hawthorne Freddies. Rats in back room dock area were just part of the deal. Glue traps were set out. One little clever bast*** who refused to get caught even had a name, Ricky Rat.
Some things never change.

Since the pick-up went from every other week to weekly, there had to be a nearly doubling of yard debris. Then, adding food scraps adds some additional percentage. Then, people like me who have lots of trees and shrubs, and never enough capacity, have neighbors with few trees/shrubs, who like to cradle their food scraps with a bag or two of yard debris.

I've found I no longer need to hit every neighborhood clean-up in the spring, haul loads to McFarlands in the summer, and hit the leaf depots (if they continue to exist) in the fall. I wonder about the volume of yard debris at those locations - probably significantly reduced.

Most of the food slop weight is water. And of all the things that go to the landfill, food scraps decompose fastest and are probably the least harmful to the environment in the long run.

Garbage has traditionally been identified as a mob business. But not in Oregon, of course. Everything's squeaky clean here. Human nature doesn't apply.

We couldn't get by with our regular sized garbage can because of the every other week service. In order to get a larger can we had to order it from the garbage company, and of course pay more monthly for service. We ordered one weeks ago, but so many people are having to go to larger cans they can't keep them in stock. Score a big one for the garbage company. As far as 3 times the food scraps, statistics can be manipulated. Who all are we including in this increase? Restaurants? Apartment buildings? There is no way we could fill up a bin with food scraps. The thought of it makes me a bit ill.

Don't forget the 2 billion dollars worth of new businesses that have sprung up along garbage pickup routes since the new program started.

Isn't that part of the song?

"We Are Here to Help!"

That sounds like the ominous prelude to another intrusive, health-hazard pilot program.