We purged our residence and garage today of sensitive documents and hazardous waste materials. The collection process has been on-going for the past few weeks as we prepared, sorted, scoped-out, scooped out, and shoveled out - OK, maybe not shoveled out. This is a once-a-year task that seems to require a Papal dispensation and divine blessing to accomplish.
Ridding our files and drawers of out-dated, sensitive documents is a tedious task and it took my SO many hours to complete the chore. We are dedicated, daily shredders, dedicated to the point of.........well, let's just say that nothing gets sent,out of our home, in our local waste hauler's recycling bin that includes any sensitive, personal information, including name and address.
In order to save our cross-cut shredder from certain death due to over-exertion, we decided to take advantage of a community service, offered today by a local bank, to have documents professionally shredded by a gargantuan shredder, right before your eyes. Then it was on to a site where county residents can properly dispose of hazardous-waste materials. For us, this is about a forty-minute trek so it is a trip that is planned around other errands. Additionally, the drop-off location is only open one morning a week. It is an important service provided to county residents and one that is vital to our environment.
Here comes the title of today's post: Must it be so difficult to properly dispose of these materials? Oh, it is not difficult once you get there. The dedicated people who handle and collect the waste are highly efficient and any line of vehicles moves along quickly. My issue is the lack of readily available locations throughout the county. It is possible that the driving distance automatically ensures that many toxic substances go all-too-readily into garbage bags and into our landfills, or get dumped into drains that leach through septic fields or run into home drains connected directly to sewers.
If our local communities and their governing bodies are truly determined to become more environmentally conscious then let's provide more locations throughout our county where hazardous-waste materials and items can be safely disposed of.
If you build it, they will come.
Ancora imparo
