[speaker001:] Okay, we're on, uh, recycling
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] and, uh, I am not real well informed on exactly what Richardson does.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I know that we, uh, they ask us to bundle our newspapers, and we do that, and we recycle our aluminum pop cans and stuff.
[speaker002:] I see.
[speaker001:] But now Plano has quite an elaborate system, don't they?
[speaker002:] Yeah, they do. Uh, it started out several years ago when they put these, uh, collection sites
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] they, uh, near a WalMart, near a football stadium and the like, and they just couldn't believe how many people were going out of their way to fill these things up. These huge dumpsters were being filled up in a, in a matter of a week. So they knew that there was something going on here. So, they started looking into programs, and what we have now, it, they changed the whole way that they do garbage in Plano.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Instead of collecting plastic bags of garbage two days a week, they make a collection on Monday for yard waste, and the yard waste has to be put in a special bag that's a decomposable paper sack
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] it's a pretty good size. It's maybe the size of two or three, um, grocery bags.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And we put that out by the street, and they collect those on Monday. And then on Wednesday, we put out two containers that they gave us. One container's a huge, green, monstrous thing that a, uh, uh, a special truck comes by and hooks onto the side of it and flips the container into the back of the garbage truck. So and that's where you put your regular, um, garbage and trash.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] And then also, that same day, you put out a small tub, it's maybe two feet high and three feet by two feet wide, and you put, just throw in your aluminum and your milk jugs and newspaper, and then the.
[speaker001:] Okay, and then they recy-, they separate it.
[speaker002:] Exactly, they have a big truck that has like te-, not ten, maybe five big doors on the side of it, and they throw the different stuff in the different doors.
[speaker001:] Oh, that's a neat system.
[speaker002:] Yeah it is. And apparently it's, you know, it, it went off pretty much without a hitch. The trucks, the special five door trucks were a little tough in getting because of something to do with the Persian Gulf war
[speaker001:] Oh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that the trucks were being, the engines or something were being shipped over there for something or other. But it does work pretty well.
[speaker001:] Well, I know our son and daughter-in-law live in Plano, and I know they have commented on the system. I don't know that they know that it worked that way, but they have the two separate containers and stuff.
[speaker002:] Oh, yes, uh-huh. I noticed something interesting last time, I guess two Wednesdays ago when they were picking up, I happened to be out there in the morning when they were picking up the, that tub stuff, and the man who was doing the separating, when he was done emptying the tub, he took a little electronic reader device off of his belt and he read the bar code that was on the side of the tub. So they must be collecting information about who does it, and how often.
[speaker001:] Oh, that is interesting.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Because I wonder if that means that if you don't do it
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] do you suppose they will [LAUGHTER] come and knock on your door and,
[speaker002:] I, I don't know, but I think that's a really interesting question.
[speaker001:] That, that is interesting. You know, will you be penalized if you don't. Will you, uh.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that, that seems farfetched only because it, it, there's no law that says you have to buy a newspaper
[speaker001:] Right, right.
[speaker002:] or pop cans or milk jugs. So there, there's, it's possible that there is a person in Plano that doesn't buy any of those three things, and therefore wouldn't have.
[speaker001:] That's true, except that it's hard to imagine, you know, when you have, uh, cans, you know, from the, the market and, uh
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] you know, vegetable cans, and et cetera.
[speaker002:] No, they won't take vegetable cans.
[speaker001:] Oh, they don't take vegetable cans.
[speaker002:] Just, just the aluminum pop cans.
[speaker001:] This is just their aluminum cans.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Well, then yes,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] so they have, that's interesting. I wonder, uh, uh,
[speaker002:] Yeah, what they're doing with that.
[speaker001:] Wouldn't you really like to know?
[speaker002:] I would.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Someday I'm sure we'll find out.
[speaker001:] I'm sure [LAUGHTER], you know, if nothing else call the sanitation department say, okay, what are you doing reading [LAUGHTER], you know.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. So tell me your feelings on recycling. Is it, do you think this is a good thing, or silly.
[speaker001:] I think it's a very good thing. I think that, uh, I think it helps if the city is giving you a nudge to do it
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] because I think there are a lot of people that don't do it, and I can't say that my husband and I are real, real conscientious. We got started on the aluminum cans because our, uh, grandson was collecting them, uh, to raise money
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] and stuff for an organization he was in. So we started collecting them, and now he's through, so we've just, we've kept on
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and it's interesting, too, that we have to drive, we drive to Plano at Plano Road to, {F uh, just inside your city limits, } to, you know
[speaker002:] Dump them off.
[speaker001:] turn them in
[speaker002:] Yeah, and that is interesting.
[speaker001:] to dump them in. I'm sure there's bound to be some here in Richardson
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] but we just haven't really seen them advertised or
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] you know, something.
[speaker002:] Well, the Pl-, yeah, the Plano newspaper each, each day, in fact, has a, a little list of all the recycling centers for all the different things. They publish it every single day.
[speaker001:] Well, that's interesting.
[speaker002:] Yeah, and phone numbers, and, and that kind of stuff.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, well, I haven't noticed, uh, I haven't noticed Richardson, you know, making that big a,