I know that recycling is being encouraged in many communities these days, with varying degrees of success. We've recently moved from a small community in Missouri to a small city in Kane County, Illinois, and the difference couldn't be more pronounced: tepid participation in Missouri to (as far as I can tell) almost total participation here. Why?

Here's the modus operandi for recycling in both places we've lived.

small town, Missouri:
Started about ten years ago with recycling bins to sort paper, plastic, glass, and cans, with special trucks to pick up. After a while, lack of community involvement changed this to folks sorting their own stuff and carting it off themselves to a central location and dumping it themselves. Human nature being what it is, hardly any recycling happens there.

Kane County, Illinois:
Everyone recycles here. I have yet to pass a home on trash day that doesn't have their recycling bin(s) out. Why? Because here you pay to have non-recyclable trash picked up, and recyclable trash is picked up for "free." Every trash day, one must place a pre-purchased trash tag (costing about $2.60 each) on each garbage can, while non-sorted recyclables are picked up at the same time. Thus, folks have a great inducement to recycle, because the more you recycle, the less other trash you have, the more you save.

Here's what gets picked up:

Recyclable Paper Products
Newspaper
Corrugated Cardboard
Must be flattened and cut in pieces no larger than 3’x3’. Large amounts should be bundled with string.
Junk Mail
Telephone Books
Magazines
Paper Grocery Bags
Chip Board
Product Packaging
Office Paper

Recyclable Rigid Products
Steel Cans
Tin Cans
Aluminum Cans
Aerosol Cans (empty)
Dry Cell Batteries
Glass Bottles and Jars
Juice Boxes
Used Motor Oil

Recyclable Plastic Products
Peanut butter jars, soft drink bottles
Milk jugs, laundry detergent jugs
Vegetable oil bottles, window cleaners
Dry cleaning bags, bread bags, six pack rings
Yogurt cups, shampoo bottles, margarine tubs
Catsup bottles, microwave serving ware
(plastics with 1 to 7 ratings in that little recycling triangle)

Anyway, I must say I'm very impressed with my new county.

BTW, this is my 1000 post; I wanted it to be something other than my usual "Those bastards!" or "Yeah!"