From the city of my glorious birth (Charlotte's new ...):
Beginning next week, Charlotte's recycling program gets an overhaul, with new bins and a biweekly collection schedule.
Under the initiative, known as "Recycle It!", residents have received 96-gallon green recycling carts to replace the older 16-gallon red bins. And with a new waste collection company, the city will reduce its pickup from weekly to biweekly. ...
The new waste management equipment also will be able to process all recyclables together, said Solid Waste Management Director Bruce Gledhill. Before, collectors had to separate recyclables into two different compartments - containers or fibrous paper products - to be processed on different machines.
The new equipment was installed in December and cost around $7 million, he added. ...The cutback in recycling collection is expected to save the city $15 million over the next five years and $43 million over the next decade, Curtis said.
This seems to pass the benefit-cost test unless the discount rate is r=0.35 over five years or r=0.61 over 10 years.
But, this sounds big brother scary!The recycling bins for Charlotte also include new technology: Every bin comes with a radio frequency identification chip that tracks the serial number of the recycling bin and the residential address to which it is assigned. The city says the chips will allow the city to manage cart information more efficiently and to better focus environmental education to certain neighborhoods.
Next thing you know, they'll want to embed a radio frequency identification chip in my neck. Lookout for the libertarian outrage in the comments section.
