Tin Can Alley

I love walking the three blocks to the subway on Tuesday mornings. It is one of the greatest non-family related pleasures of my week (up there with so you think you can dance Wednesdays and casual Fridays). Is it the early morning birdsongs, you ask? No (I’m more of an evening bird kind of girl). Could it be the morning dew glistening on slowly waking garden blooms? Nice, but nuh-uh. How about the sleepy commuters, still friendly in their sunrise stupors? Nope.

It’s the recycling bins. Yes, I get a kick out of glancing at a household’s recycling bin and discerning bits of information from the receptacles and the contents therein.

Gross, I know, but it’s not like I get down in there and rummage through leaky milk cartons and stinky tuna tins; in fact, I don’t even slow my pace. I just look, and discern. Look, and discern. I’m not a garbage picker; I’m a detective. An urban anthropologist. An explorer, some might say (some might say a whackjob, but I’m not listening to them).

There is a lot to learn about a household by doing this.

I notice mainly 3 things – organization of the bins, number of bins, contents of bins. (Isn’t this fascinating? too bad; you tune in here and this is what you might get – do get – on occasion. I bet the comment count on this one will be through the roof!)

I note the people that separate their paper from their plastic. You don’t have to do that in Toronto anymore, but some can’t break the habit. These people tend to have tidy bins in general – everything is flattened, bundled, stacked and laying neatly within the confines of the bin. These bins also tend to have less variety as far as contents go – one bin is filled mainly with water bottles, the other, a week’s worth of the Toronto Star. I like these conscientious, neat people, even though they would probably be disgusted by me.

Most houses have the requisite 2 bins, standard order, compliments of the city. One gray, one blue, both full. But some people have an extra, tall blue bin. The people with the extra bin usually stack to over-flow, with nothing flattened or separated. Sometimes tissue boxes or frozen pizza packaging spills onto the sidewalk. These people, I think, have kids. One house in my hood puts out not 2, not 3, but 6 bins each week. They are all gray, and they are stacked on top of each other, half-full. I think this is just silly. I think the people in the house should probably be commended for recycling, because they usually tend towards the excess, or at least towards not forcing the full life span onto their products before they deem it garbage.

Then there is what I see in the bins. It’s so interesting, I swear. Like, the people that have millions of single-serve water bottles in their bins – why not just get the big jugs and a glass? The first ‘R’ is REDUCE, people! I like the big, flattened boxes the best – the treats and gifts; the big purchases. A few thoughts from this morning:

· Ooh, #213 got an outdoor tin-man heater!

· That whole box is filled with bits of paper, #119 – smarten up and get a ‘no fliers please’ sign.

· #99 – christ, that’s a lot of plastic garden statues… tylenol, batteries, soda crackers, whiskey, more whiskey… when do I get to be an eccentric old alkie?

· Aww, #75 got the same car seat as us – new baby or growing baby, I wonder?

· Ugh, #43 eats total shit. What are lunchables, anyway? There’s no food in their food! This is what they feed their kids? Gross.

I look for the contents that most resembles our own bins – organic milk, tampons, discarded playstation game manuals and healthy times teething cookies, anyone?
In the empty shell of packaging, the mysteries of humanity. I’m serious here, folks.

I also look into open windows – from the sidewalk, you perv, as I stroll by with my hubby and bumblebee. I’m not a bush-lurker. But I guess voyeur would be apt. Dusk is the best time for this, as most people have reacted to the fading daylight by opening lights, but have not yet drawn the drapes. I like to see what people have done to their space – what colour the walls are; if they’ve torn down all the walls; how people decorate. I love it. I can’t help it. I always, always look. Never mind.

Anyway, to make up for such a loser post, here is a cute picture: