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Showing posts from July 8, 2009

Recycling Pilferers

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8:00 a.m. this morning The L.A. Times would call me hard-hearted, but I don't like giving over my recyclables to pilferers. After July 4th, my recycling bin was stuffed with a wealth of beer bottles and soda cans. So instead of putting it out the night before for collection, I delayed and put it on the street only when I started hearing collection trucks rumbling by. Minutes later, I heard the clink of bottles and the rattle of a shopping cart as the items were being plucked from my bin by the enterprising fellow pictured above. Is he hard-working? Certainly. Deserving? Probably. Indigent scum? Not at all. He's clearly just a guy who's doing a dirty job while trying to make ends meet. So why deny him my refuse? My argument against pilferers has Utilitarian roots. Simply put, municipal curbside recycling programs perform a greater good for a greater number of people, and I feel it's important to keep them financially viable. Scavengers undermine municipal ...