Miriam L. Wallach: That's Life 2-6-09

Issue of Feb. 6, 2009 / 12 Shevat 5769

Dear That’s Life,

Do not tempt the root canal gods. Whenever you may feel the need to compare jury duty or anything else to getting a root canal, please resist the temptation. It’s just not worth it.

And so, on my fourth visit to the dentist to complete my root canal, he asked me why I had not written as of yet on the recycling program. Funny, I said. Great minds think alike.

The recycling program in our area is way overdue. Having moved here from Queens, I was already accustomed to separating out items for the recycling bin. To move here and be told to stop was a shock to my system and for a while, I continued to separate my garbage and had my husband drive the bags back to Queens. That did not last long.

I started doing that again when my kids became of age that the chinuch of teaching them how to recycle and help the planet was important. They watched television and read magazines for kids all of which promoted recycling and being environmentally savvy. We took our bottles back to the store for the deposits and began once more to bag the items that could be recycled in Queens.

Explaining to them that in our area someone was paid to go through our garbage and pull out the recycling, which had been the longstanding program, wasn’t enough of an answer. Frankly, they didn’t buy it. And therefore, when the recycling program was introduced and implemented last month, it was welcomed into our home.

Except now, the great irony is that I have more recyclables than garbage and my regular garbage bins are nowhere near full. My bright, almost shocking, yellow/green recyclables can is always full with numerous clear garbage bags, filled to capacity, sitting atop and around the garish can the way groupies cling to a celebrity. My garage looks like a loading dock for Sanitation District 1, as I semi-patiently wait for my weekly pick up. With no more diapers to toss out and so much of my ‘garbage’ now not garbage at all, but recyclable, my big gray trash cans stand barely used.