Collector Ship

As a Canadian, recently transplanted to the United States, I am settling into life in the Carolinas very well. I have always thought of Canadians as having a similar culture to our American cousins. Although, I am beginning to experience some culture shock.... over the weirdest of things too.

In Toronto, we have an amazing recycling program. Every week we compost kitchen scraps, recycle plastic, paper and tin and every other week one bag of garbage per household and our yard waste are picked up. These rules are strictly enforced.

By he end of April I would anxiously look forward to spring, when winter would take it’s snow coat off the lawn so I could get outside to rake up the remaining fall leaves, unveil the crocus and daffodils and restore order to the yard.

Leaves are raked up and placed in oversize brown paper bags to go curbside for pickup. All the Canadian lawn and garden centers carry these bags, each store branding the sides of the bags with their name and logo for advertising value. Yard waste is only picked up if it is placed in these biodegradable bags. If they are in plastic they will not be collected and will sit on the curb to become compost.

This February, only days after moving into our new house, the warm Carolina sun shone down with all the heat of an Ontario May, beckoning me outside. I couldn’t resist.

Happily, I raked leaves into neat piles. I had a few Home Depot brown paper lawn bags in the garage with my gardening tools from back home. Carefully, I put the yard waste into the giant paper bags. Everyone knows the joys of a soggy bottomed paper bag, so, I placed the full bags under the overhang on my front porch so they would not get wet if it rained to await pick up day.

My neighbor walked by a few days later and said; "I am dying to know. What's in those bags?"

I said; "Yard waste, leaves, tree branches and stuff."

"Oh!" she says; "I wondered what you had moved here and why were you letting it die in it's bag?"

Meanwhile, I ran out of giant paper lawn bags, so, I have been to Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart asking in the garden center for brown paper lawn bags. Drawing a blank from each sales person I have encountered, I am told it must be too early in the year for stocking this item. I proceed to use black garbage lawn bags...very much to my environmentalist's chagrin.

Garbage day arrived. I put the brown paper Home Depot yard waste bags, the black garbage bags full of leaves along with my other garbage and recycling on the curb. I could hear the garbage truck idling out front for an unusually long time so I went to the window to see what was going on.

The yard waste guys were picking up my paper yard waste bags flipping them up side down DUMPING the contents into the back of their truck then carefully replacing the bags back on the lawn for me to reuse!

I couldn’t believe my eyes! Wow! Now that is taking recycling to the extreme!

After a little while it occurs to me. The garden centers don't have brown paper leaf bags in NC at all. Apparently, the NC folk sweep the leaves to the gutter and a devoted yard waste truck sucks them up with a big vacuum hose into the truck. This does seem very practical.... no bags…. how ridiculous my yard bags must have looked.

Culture shock. Maybe?

Next week I will try collards.