The third of the three R's

I can handle the mobs and the crowded subways. I can handle the extreme weather and the exploding steam pipes. But the one thing I really can’t handle about New York City is the lack of environmentalism I’ve found here. And I’m not even a dirty, tree-hugging hippy, I just care about the earth as much as the next socially responsible guy.

I was reminded of the lack of environmental interest here the other day when a San Fran friend was in town and innocently asked, “Where’s your compost?” I regretfully informed her that unlike San Francisco, New York doesn’t provide its residents with special green containers for biodegradable waste. “So where should I put this?” She held out the peel that she’d just removed from her banana. “The garbage,” I sighed, the weight of global warming guilt heavy on my shoulders.

But even the compost I can sort of forgive. You know what I can’t forgive? The fact that the giant, skyscrapers filled with millions of intelligent working Americans simply don’t recycle. I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that the three large Manhattan ad agencies where I’ve freelanced in the last year are the exceptions to the rule. Because I’m not just talking about throwing out cans and bottles, but paper. PAPER. Do you know how much paper is used at an ad agency? I couldn’t give you an exact figure, but I’m sure we go through a number of trees daily. Do you know how much of it gets thrown in the garbage? As far as I know, all of it.

I just read on the NYC government site that all commercial businesses must
* prominently post signs notifying employees about what and how to recycle.
* place labeled recycling containers where designated materials are routinely discarded.
* keep designated recyclables separate from garbage.

And yet not one company that I know of follows any of these mandates. Well, I've decided that I'm going to MAKE this company recycle. I’ve already called the government and the office manager. This company didn’t know what they signed up for when they hired this Berkeley-born Copywriter.