Billings Montana’s Litterbug Recyclers

Last weekend I delivered my empty plastic bottles and cardboard to the Earth First Aid recyclers in west Billings, and again found that which irritates me.

While there are well-contained blue receptacles for materials, the ground is littered with plastic caps.

The blue metal bins have slots to accommodate the tines on a forklift.  They are not there as convenient little shelves for bottle caps.

Every time I recycle, I spend a few minutes cleaning up after somebody else.  Suddenly I sympathize with homeowners who clean their yards of others' dog poop.

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Why this Bugs Me

I'm hearing my father now: "You're only as big as the smallest thing that make you angry."  So why is this annoying me?  Because the people doing this think they are saving the planet by recycling but are also littering on the company's property.  It is blatant hypocrisy.

When I cleaned up all the caps on the containers, with the caps from my bottles, the trash bag felt about five pounds

So what is a person supposed to do with the caps?  Quite simply, just take them home or to the nearest trash can and throw them away.  I do that and will verify that very little extra work is required.  Earth First Aid would do well to include a trash can outside, clearly marked "Trash."

Please, please remember that Earth First Aid is a private business on private property.  They have specific guidelines for recyclable materials because it all has to have a market to go to.  I spoke with a nice gentleman there and unfortunately the #3, 4 and up plastics have no market and therefore will not be accepted anytime in the near future.  He offered another note on #1 and #2 plastic: they only accept the bottles in these two plastics; the #1 food containers just go in the trash.

Please respect other people's property, otherwise hold your tongue when picking up the dog poop.