A response to one of my recent recyling rants, followed by my reply:
Sloan, surely you’ve seen all the blue or green bins set out all over the residential areas of town on certain weekdays — all recyclables (sp?) go into these, and WM picks them up. Our morning here in Bahama Village is Wednesday. I’ve been doing this since I lived in NJ, and here since shortly after I moved to Big Coppitt from NJ in 1994. Lots of people recycle — just not enough. And until we get businesses (especially bars and restaurants) to recycle — well, we’re pissing into the wind, as my daddy used to say.
Courage.
C
I dunno, C.
According to an article Mark Howell had in this past Sunday’s Solares Hill, Key West’s recycling rate is 7 percent. I’d heard something around that number at other times.
I had dinner last night with Jim and Vera Hendrick and Todd German. As you stated, Todd said, he’d said it before, that our businesses need to recycle, too.
Jim said we have a mandatory recycling ordinance in Key West, but it has no enforcement provisions. Todd or Jim, maybe both of them, said there are no enforcement provisions because the City Commission that passed the oridnance, some reference was made to Commissioner Mark Rossi, weenied out on putting teeth into it. I said a mandatory recycling ordinance with no teeth is a non sequitur.
Jim said a private citizen should bring a private attorney general action in court to get a judge to force the city to enforce its own ordinance. I said, how do you enforce an ordinance that has no enforcement provision? But if you can, who don’t you, Jim, bring the law suit, since it is your idea?
I said if I were I the sitting judge, I would toss the private attorney general’s suit out of court because the ordinance has no enforcement provision and I would not let my courtroom be used do what the Key West City Commission didn’t have the guts to do.
The solution, I said, is for all of the gung-ho recycling people who attended the recent recycling workshop hosted by the City Commission to demonstrate in front of all the businesses on Duval Street, carrying ”hate” and “God’s going to get you” signs. This seemed to strike a chord.
Jim and Todd said the demonstration should be focused in front of Mark Rossi’s businesses. Jim said the demonstrators all should piss on the front of Jim’s businesses, and ask him how he liked that? I said amen. I may also have said something about a similar demonstration in front of the other city commissioners’ and the mayor’s businesses.
Meanwhile, I remain of the view that the city should have a recycling ordinance with serious teeth, not only for its populace and businesses, but also for Waste Management, which Todd said last night much prefers to burn or take everything to a landfill.
Teeth like: $100 fine per incident of not separating recyclables from garbage, and turning unseparated bins upside down on the property they came from.
In olden times, before petro chemicals, plastic, machinery, etc., Mother Nature could pretty well deal with human waste output, just as She dealt with the waste output off all other earth creatures. We don’t live in olden times. We should be separating our wastes and recycling it, even the food. It should not be optional. Elected officials who are hesitant to make it mandatory and enforce it should be put out of office.
GLEE and other environmental groups, and private individuals like yourself should see to it that the weenies are put out of office. And not just in Key West. In the entire Keys. In Tallahassee. In Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, I think every recycling advocate should be in front of Mark Rossi’s businesses, pissing and carrying hate signs for Mother Nature. Let me know when you will be there, and I’ll join you 
.
