>>I my area of the woods, it is required that we recycle. We have roadside pickup in front of the house. In the begining, they paid us for the recycled goods. Then after a few years, they stopped paying us and started charging us. Since then, the charge has gone up around 2x. Now, they have stopped picking up the glass goods, and have us throw the plasic, paper, and cans into a single (large) barrel. Of course, the charge is still the same. My wife told me last week that they informed her they plan to stop accepting the cans this sumner. Once again, the charge does not change. At this rate, my the end of the decade, they will not be picking up any of the recycling, but we will still be charging for the service. :-)
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>Interesting. Here, recycling is picked up with our regular trash. We can combine glass, cans and plastic in a single container (though it's usually two containers for my house). Paper is separate.
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>We pay for this through our municipal taxes, no separate fees. I've never understood the idea that you have to pay separately for trash collection. What the heck are you paying local taxes for, if not for trash collection, police and other local services?
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When you're right, you're right. I was just grumbling about this other day when I noticed that the monthly charge for trash, sewer, and water went up over 10% the first of the year. It is now over $29/month. That is in addition to property taxes, which are thousands of dollars a year. (And I don't live in any palace). I know it's because this is a new community. 10 years ago it was all farms around here; now it's almost all subdivisions. I can't leave the house without driving by a new Target, Chili's, or Walgreen going up. All the infrastructure was paid for with 20 year bonds, so I am not expecting a tax break any time soon.