Parallelogram: Waste Post Post Haste

  \One experience explored from two points-of-view\

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Laura\Mayaguez

Let’s talk about garbage…

Garbage trucks are just as exciting in Mayaguez as they were in Madison.  Except these garbage men do it old school and walk behind the truck, manually dumping the basura in the back by hand.  Which means extra face time for my kiddos.  Bonus!

I wonder if any other kids on their route eat their breakfast on the stoop in order to watch them work? The driver honks the horn, and the guys wave and smile.  I considered getting them Christmas cards but never got my act together.

Lion gets in on the action too

What’s the recycling scene like?

Existent. Underused.  I wonder if most of the locals even know about it?

You have to take it yourself to the drop off sight, which conveniently is about 5 blocks from my neighborhood.  They are not open on weekends so people just shove their stuff on the curb so there is a big mess by Monday morning. 

A couple of dudes are in the little office.  You sign a sheet with your address.  I guess so they see who actually cares enough to go there.

But they don’t recycle glass!

Reciclaje

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Lisa\Montreal

Let’s talk about garbage…

Madison had a fantastic waste services, most specifically you could put large items on the curb (after posting a curb-alert on craigslist of course) and they would just disappear every other week.  For someone who reorganizes and purges frequently this was terribly convenient (though I’m sure we paid for it in taxes – let’s not go crazy).  Montreal is also waste-removal friendly, removing trash from the curb like in Mayaguez:

I am compelled to point out the female-ness of our collector because I have new role model:

‘sup?

Such a rare sighting I had to google female garbage collectors and while this is not the woman who works in my neighborhood, this is a nice piece on another one of Montreal’s rare birds:

“France Beaudin is pretty badass. She looks like the kind of woman Disney might base a cartoon on if they were in the business of putting out more female characters in vein of Brave. She has two kids she raises on her own and likes her job because of the security, the schedule and because it keeps her in shape.” – From Meeting a Garbage Woman

I could see myself doing this work and enjoying it.

What’s the recycling scene like?

Equally smooth.  Bags out to the curb every Sunday.  They do get rifled through for bottle deposits but in true Canadian fashion, there is hardly every any mess left behind.  Positive stereotypes!

I never thought I’d write about garbage but given how much energy it requires from the  household, it’s important to have good service and we do.  Thanks Montreal.