The Recycling Police

The Recycling Police came by this morning.

It's garbage day and I noticed a guy in a bright yellow reflector vest opening everyone's recycling bin and poking around inside with a long wooden stick. Naturally I discovered a forgotten bag of recycling that needed dumping and wandered outside just as he was getting to my house.

"Hey, whatcha looking for?"

"Contamination, ma'am. But we're just leavings warnings today. No fines yet."

I must have looked shocked because he quickly added, "Yours looks fine, though," and handed me a gold star. Actually it was an info pamphlet, the same one they send with the utility bill telling you what qualifies as garbage vs. recycling vs. green waste, but it felt like getting a gold star from my kindergarten teacher for good behavior. I ran inside and stuck it to the fridge.

Then I made some tea and reminisced about the days I used to gleefully toss styrofoam and greasy pizza boxes into the recycling bin, thinking I was saving the environment. Ah, youth, when you think you know everything and go so far as to get all self-righteous about it. Only years later did I realize I was a complete neo. "The young think that the old are foolish, but the old know that the young are foolish." Heh.