[speaker001:] and how long have you lived there
[speaker002:] I've lived in this area for about twenty six years
[speaker001:] okay well you're familiar then very well with what's going on there
[speaker002:] yes I am
[speaker001:] we just moved to North Carolina from Oklahoma and I'm not yet familiar we're out in the country a little bit
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] so it's a contract garbage pickup and it's all thrown together in this area they don't have that
[speaker002:] oh well let me tell you what we have
[speaker001:] good
[speaker002:] I live in a very progressive county and uh it has we have for the last uh year I suppose had um newspaper pickup but there's always been you know scout troops and that sort of thing interested in doing that because it they get earn a little money and also you know they were helping the environment but the um
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the county government then got involved and decided to uh mandate newspaper collection and although they're still we still give ours to the girl scout troop at our church uh they do have curbside pickup in over the entire county for newspapers
[speaker001:] good uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh and then in addition to that they
[speaker001:] excuse me do you have to bundle it or
[speaker002:] uh we we can put it in paper bags that's that makes it okay that's that makes it okay um they used to only recycle let you do it uh tied with string
[speaker001:] okay yeah right
[speaker002:] but now they do it in paper bags and they do say that it is paying for itself now in the actual municipality of Rockville we moved just outside of it five years ago uh they've been doing newspaper recycling even longer and they were they had their regular um garbage or you know the the social people pick it up on a separate day and they said that was paying for itself It was paying the extra salaries for those people as well as paying you know the city for doing it
[speaker001:] uh-huh well good
[speaker002:] but the whole county now and it's a large county this is Montgomery County right outside Washington DC um is has begun a program to over a period of the next year to um
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] have all well not all waste but um plastics um aluminum and other tin cans and uh glass of all colors
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] and it's they they will you will they will also be picked up at the curb and it can be put together at one point and we've been doing it in my family for a while by at first at first we were doing it um separating it because most of the facilities that would take it were uh
[speaker001:] yes required it yes
[speaker002:] required it's being separated but they've got this wonderful new facility now that separates it and they had a drawing of it a diagram of it in in one of the local papers and it works um it's like conveyor belts and some of it works by gravity and of course you can imagine the aluminum because it's very light weight um you know falls in one place and the glass goes another place and other and tin that would be picked up by metal is just picked up you know some other way
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] um and then the plastic um you know go because it just kind of doesn't fall I mean I guess it keeps going on the conveyor belt or something I can't remember the the design right now but it's wonderful because you don't have to separate
[speaker001:] uh-huh that is nice and I've read articles here uh about the confusion involved in what is to be put out and what isn't and the problems that uh some of the recycling centers are having because of the slick magazine pages in with the newspaper which they say ruins the whole batch and uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] the unacceptable plastics in with the plastics which ruins the whole batch and I just wondered
[speaker002:] well they do try to control that by giving a little instruction
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] they do try to say you you know you should have it certain way but um on the the slick newspaper print that comes in with like the Sunday papers and so on they haven't really protested magazines shouldn't be as a rule should not be put in but there are always a few of those pages and they must have a better way to do it now because they they haven't gotten too upset about that
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] in general as long as it's the newspaper because there's not you know volume wise maybe it does have to be you know significant volume um percentage before it's a serious problem in the plastics um the the county recycling where we take ours now because we don't yet have the curbside pickup um I the the transfer the you know just solid waste transfer station they uh have indicated they only want the two liter plastic soda bottles and or I guess any soda bottles that are plastic uh caps removed and uh milk cartons
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um but in fact there is another facility that will take other items the the you know there are little codes on the bottoms of these things uh for plastic and they look it's a triangle
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] with arrows uh and that indicates it can be recycled but there are different grades of plastic and that's probably what you're talking about sometimes some of those plastics cannot be reused in certain ways
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] some can now even our grocery stores here we have two different large chains that of the plastic bags but you see I'm I have a problem with that I'll take them occasionally but I've decided
[speaker001:] recollecting the the plastic bags yeah we
[speaker002:] that I'll take them occasionally but I've decided that I will only take use paper which we are we do get a choice because I know that's biodegradable plastic isn't they can reuse it but it's really not biodegradable
[speaker001:] right uh-huh  right right right well we've had we've been collecting papers here and we uh as new residents we don't have affiliation with uh scout troops and and all that
[speaker002:] so yeah yeah
[speaker001:] we had a difficult time finding in Charlotte uh a place to finally put them which surprised me and I thought they would be
[speaker002:] huh yes I am surprised yeah
[speaker001:] uh located throughout the city and we've called and finally found one fifteen miles away
[speaker002:] oh not very convenient then
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] well what part do you actually live in Charlotte proper
[speaker001:] no right outside north of uh of Charlotte near the university
[speaker002:] because my sister lives in Matthews which I think is a little south of Charlotte
[speaker001:] is south and and east yes right
[speaker002:] yeah well actually it's called Charlotte now they used to be called Matthews where she lives they incorporated it but um I I was thinking that you know I I don't know what she does with hers either
[speaker001:] uh-huh well how active how active are the schools there I'm I'm an old person Linda grew up uh during World War Two and we saved papers and tin foil and string and everything else and uh did it through the school systems and I've wondered
[speaker002:] uh-huh well it's it's not taken on there as well although the young people I work in the school system so
[speaker001:] if they're really active
[speaker002:] I teach in in the high school um the uh we have an environmental club which has just begun at our high school this year and I think maybe the young people are becoming more conscious of the need
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um of course it's going to get down to if it's not made easy as I just described the way they're going to do it in this county uh they're making it so easy that you almost can't miss
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh doing it but because you don't have to separate and all that but that seems to be the only way that it'll ever really take off is if it's not too complicated because people in general are just lazy and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] in the schools they are trying to make students more conscious and uh but I think the adults are the ones that have to lead the way and they have required the the students in the cafeterias to recycle but of course you know that it doesn't go all the way they they make the effort they try but I think as the younger children come on maybe they'll be a little more conscious of it and eventually
[speaker001:] that that was sort of my point too in addition to being a a good focal or central collection point it does raise the awareness if you do it through the school system and
[speaker002:] yes yes it does uh we because they they recycle the styrofoam because that's what most of the uh you know the little trays that they have their dinner you know we used to use those heavy uh plastic or whatever they were metal even trays in in the cafeterias in our schools but but now they have these
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] plastic these Styrofoam ones like they get at McDonald's kind of and um and those are being
[speaker001:] uh-huh probably one of the worst things we ever done to ourselves
[speaker002:] isn't it awful now but do you know that um
[speaker001:] McDonald's is doing uh-huh right
[speaker002:] um McDonald's is phasing them out and uh they're supposedly going to try to recycle those that are still left we're talking about
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] two jillion I'm sure so eventful it will take a time but um I I just worry about what's going to happen to the next generation um
[speaker001:] uh no uh how do you feel about the high schools that you you teach do you feel that they have the right I I get mixed emotions when I see a bunch of uh youngsters throwing things out of the car versus
[speaker002:] well many of them do
[speaker001:] they they're talking about environment
[speaker002:] I know oh but yeah exactly that does seem a little bizarre um I I find that
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] there is a percentage of of uh the student body uh that is a a aware active and interested there is uh a much larger percentage still that it hasn't quite you know taken yet um but I think they're becoming more aware I think what will make the change is um enough of those who are aware and making an effort to do something about it those are going to have to ridicule those are going to have to ridicule peer pressure or something
[speaker001:] right peer pressure is a big one yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] yeah yeah to to kind of make the effort um
[speaker001:] well I yes I am too I am too well Linda I enjoyed talking to you
[speaker002:] but I I'm hopeful well I enjoyed talking to you and I wish I wish you luck there in Charlotte
[speaker001:] thank you uh bye
[speaker002:] bye-bye