If you live in the city of Cleveland, then either you have curbside recycling, or you don’t. Either way, contact your city councilperson and the mayor. Tell them you want to have a citywide curbside recycling and mandated recycling at all events that require a city permit. It is easy. I am sick of having to drag my recycling down to the nearest bin, but that is not the reason for this particular rant. I was asked by a colleague of mine what to do about recycling all their old magazines. Now this is a smart guy. Problem is, since we have made is so difficult for residents to recycle and even worse for commercial customers, that even the brightest residents haven’t all followed through. We have not taken the minimal time and effort to educate the public that they can recycle metal, paper, newspapers, magazines, cardboard and plastics at their local Cleveland recycles dumpsters. If you do not know where your nearest site is, look at the city listing. This site has much more information as well, like a recycle guide-what to recycle and where to do it. It is great information, but I rarely hear about it… The other reason that I am on this tirade is that I am sick of the public events in this town not having recycling at the most basic level. I went to a Port Authority meeting last week to discuss the lakefront project. (BTW this project looks great and we need to get started on it-plan on attending the August meeting!) They served food, which was delicious, and a selection of sodas. I can understand them not being prepared to recycle the plates or cutlery, but at least two of us had to ask about a recycle bin before one appeared for the aluminum cans.
This weekend the difference between Cleveland and Cleveland Heights was made glaringly obvious. I attended the Cain Park Art Fair. The park had recycling cans available throughout the area. Judging by their appearance, they have been serving the public for a while now. Moreover, the visitors and exhibitors alike were dutifully dropping their cans and bottles inside and I didn’t wee a single wadded up wrapper or paper make it in. That means the residents of Cleveland Heights know what they are doing. They have been schooled on at least the basics and they understand that a recycling program must be followed or it will not work. In contrast, if you put a recycling bin at nearly any Cleveland area event, and it is half full of garbage and dumped out anyhow.
I also attended Ingenuity Fest. 
This is a great event (more on this later, as well-I am trying to stay on topic). But for a Cleveland event that was based on ingenuity and new ideas, why could I not find a simple recycling bin for a water bottle ANYWHERE? The irony was not lost on me. Besides the vendors and their waste, I saw a lot of attendees looking around for their spot to dump their can and choosing the garbage-it wasn’t really a choice anyway. So for a city that is promoting ingenuity, we couldn’t be enough on the edge to even put out a recycle bin? More than that, we keep talking about a Green City on a Blue Lake, but we aren’t going to take the step of requiring permit holders for public events to even provide a single recycle bin? Now that is downright lazy if you ask me. So, here is my plan. I am attending the Cleveland Sustainability Summit in August. It is going to be a big deal. I request that everyone send their councilperson and the mayor a brief not asking them to start curbside recycling thorough out the city and to mandate public events permits issued with recycling bin requirements.
Here is the link to the Mayor Frank Jackson’s office. or email him directly at mayorsactioncenter@city.cleveland.oh.us
Try contacting his cabinet, too. They are all listed here.
Here are your City Council members:
Ward 1 Terrell Pruitt: ward01@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 2 Nate Wilkes: ward02@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 3 Zachary Reed: ward03@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 4 Kenneth Johnson: ward04@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 5 Phyllis Cleveland: ward05@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 6 Mamie Mitchell: ward06@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 7 TJ Dow: ward07@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 8 Shari Cloud: council8office@sbcglobal.net
Ward 9 Kevin Conwell: ward09@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 10 Eugene Miller: ward10@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 11 Michael Polensek: ward11@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 12 Anthony Brancatelli: abrancatelli@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 13 Joe Cimperman: ward13@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 14 Joe Santiago: jsantiago@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 15 Brian Cummings: ward15@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 16 Kevin Kelly: ward16@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 17 Matt Zone: councilward17@sbcglobal.net
Ward 18 Jay Westbrook: ward18@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 19 Dona Brady: ward19@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 20 Martin Sweeney: ward20@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 21 Martin Keene: ward21@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Just in case you don’t have an ideas on what to say, here is some sample text. Simple copy and paste into your email browser:
Dear Cleveland City Councilperson/Mayor:
As we strive to become a truly Green City on a Blue Lake, I think it is of utmost importance that we address the issue of recycling in the city of Cleveland. The savings on tipping fees and transportation of garbage, coupled with increased revenue from the sale of recyclables will more that off set the initial outlay of funds to implement a city wide program now. I understand that their is a program in place to roll out our program over 6 years, but if we act now, we can save money and increase our standing in the national community. Being able to market ourselves as a world class destination for tourism and business relocation is of the utmost importance. Not having a comprehensive recycling program merely tarnishes our reputation. I urge you to make recycling a priority in the city’s agenda. Furthermore, I would urge you to tie all city permits for public events and festivals to, at the very least, providing recycling bins as an alternative to garbage cans throughout the event. Our large events and festivals often draw large crowds from outside the city and by requiring recycling bins at these events, we are increasing the visibility of our commitment to recycling and greening our city and region.
Thank you.
Okay, I gave you the links and the words, all you have to do is cut and paste…now please help me out! I will bring this up as many times as possible at the Sustainability Summit in August. By the way, if you are not in Cleveland, feel free to contact our mayor and let him know what your city is doing about recycling and how you feel about it. After you email someone in the city government, write a comment here, telling me who you wrote to, and I will enter you in a drawing for a nice framed print!
Tags: Cleveland, Green Policies, recycling
I love it. People need to change their behaviors. I am constantly retrieving bottle, cans (off of streets) and in waste baskets because people are too LAZY to move 3 inches and put it in the appropriate bin. I like the idea of re-instituting the curb side, but get real. We are in a down economy and that is an Expense that is NOT needed.
Thanks for the post.
I agree that people’s behavior is crazy for this day. Still, it is the mentality that our city has fostered by not making recycling a priority. As for an expense, recycling will pay for itself. First off, we could sell off the dumpster bins that are situated around the city and eliminate the service to these bins. Next we would reduce our tipping fees and by reducing the amount of trash being dumped, we will also save on the cartage costs of hauling our trash to the landfill (the nearest landfill is like 40 miles away). Furthermore, it would spawn more industry to deal with the recycling and turn it into stuff. There are a host of companies working in Akron to make new polymers from recyclables. We could sell our bulk recyclables and get some cash back which would pay for the expense of the new bins. The cost of the gas savings would pay for any new trucks that would need to be purchased. Lastly, it would improve our marketability as a green city and make us more attractive as a place for new businesses to come to the city-generating income dollars and reducing the suburban flight. So, I respectfully disagree-this is an expense that we DO need to make!