Recycled Trash

On my way to work this morning, while driving on I-70, I found myself behind a recycling truck. You know, one of those huge trash trucks that collects only paper, glass and other such forms of recyclable metal in order to make good use of our resources and save the land fills? Well, at an approximate speed of 65mph, this guy wasn't worried about saving anything.

As he barrelled down the highway, an assortment of newspaper pages began to fly out of the truck. This wasn't just one piece of paper sneaking its way back into the world of landfill-bound waste. Oh nh. This was entire blocks of newspapers flying off the truck. I saw a complete bundle hit the roadway and slide off onto the side of the shoulder, shredding into pieces. This man either had no idea things were flying out, or he really didn't care.

Either way, what was bound to be recycled has now been freed again. And it has found a home where it might be picked up by some poor soul wearing an orange vest in the next 12 months, who will promptly place it into a trash bag. And that trash bag will make its way to a trash truck, who will most likely not lose and bags while on the highway, thus ensuring that the "trash" makes it to the landfill.

Maybe the recylcing people could take notes on how to keep the recyclables on the truck, instead of letting them bail out and become just a bunch of trash...