Pia Hansen: Tossing trash without recycling is just a waste

I spent last weekend on the West Side having the quintessential Seattle experience: I stayed on a houseboat, went to a Seahawks game (awesome game, by the way), had wonderful takeout from Siam Thai, lots of good coffee, and a few Mac and Jacks.

I also had the ultimate recycling experience.

As my girlfriend and I were leaving for Spokane, we decided to take out the trash.

So there we are, both fairly well-educated women over 40, with two small bags of trash surrounded by five giant recycling containers.

Call it “The Two Stooges Gone Dumpster Diving.”

Friend: “Let’s see, here we have a tin can, where would that go?”

Pia (simultaneously reading huge labels on all five containers): “This one says ‘no cans’ – and this one is, let’s see, ‘no glass’ – um, yard waste? – definitely not. Wait, here it is.”

Friend: “Oh no, I put the milk jug in there – is that OK?”

Pia (getting ready to Dumpster dive): “Wait – oh, yes, it’s on the list, we’re fine.”

When we got to the Styrofoam takeout containers, I knew we’d lost.

The carbon footprint we left on the West Side was a size 14.

To avoid building more landfills, Seattle aims to boost the amount of waste that’s recycled dramatically, to 72 percent of its trash by 2025.

Think about that: Of the last four garbage bags you took out, you’d be sorting and recycling three.

Today, Seattle recycles 44 percent of its garbage, according to its City Council’s Web site, so they have a ways to go.

The new proposal includes curbside recycling of food waste and a possible tax on plastic bags and Styrofoam containers to discourage their use, among other incentives.

It turns out my friend and I had no need to feel inadequate: Spokane recycled 43 percent of its trash in 2005.

“We do an exceptional job of recycling here in Spokane,” said Suzanne Tresko, recycling coordinator for the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System. “We don’t have any laws or anyone going through our trash or beating us up with a stick. Can we do better? You bet – I’d love to do better.”

Changing curbside recycling to include more types of recyclables takes both consumer demand and political leadership, Tresko said.

Seattle has always been cutting-edge when it comes to recycling, but could Spokane really head toward zero waste, too?

“Well, we need the money – recycling is not free and the programs don’t pay for themselves, though it is less expensive than just disposing of things,” Tresko said. “The main challenge for us is reaching the markets: Even if we got some of the more obscure plastics, (a contractor) would have to store it and be able to ship it out of here and still make some money on it. The West Side has an advantage there as it’s more densely populated and closer to the market.”

Remember, this is curbside recycling we’re talking about.

The truth is that if you really want to implement a zero waste policy at your house, you could do so tomorrow. The drop-off recycling centers at transfer stations take a lot of different materials, and there are dozens of private recyclers in the phonebook that will take bubble wrap, junk mail or old computers. You just have to take it there yourself.

“I’m kind of anal about recycling, so I do that,” Tresko said.

In the near future the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System may expand the types of paper and cardboard you can recycle at the curb, she said, but that’s pretty much it.

By the way, you don’t have to screw the caps off your pop bottles any longer.

“I mean, we like it when you do that,” Tresko said, “but you don’t have to.”

That one always baffled me. Why can’t pop brewers make a cap out of the same plastic as the bottle so it can all be recycled?

When I shared my Seattle recycling experience, Tresko said many of the containers that so confused me probably took all recyclables – which are then sorted at the recycling facility. I guess I already knew I don’t follow instructions that well.

There is also a Seattle-based proposal to legalize pygmy goats within the city limits.

That could come in handy in terms of reaching the zero waste goal: Goats will eat most anything.