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Published on 07/06/1998 All articles from this issue

The difference between garbage and trash

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By Clyde Noel

A Side of Clyde

Did you know there is a difference between trash and garbage? Ask the Los Altos Garbage Company and they'll set you straight.

I've been on this earth a long time and I always figured trash and garbage were the same thing. But you live and learn.

When I drove up my driveway last Tuesday, I noticed my garbage cans were still sitting there.

There was a note on one can that said I did not follow the rules set by the Los Altos Hills City Council, because my trash was mixed with garbage, and put out on the wrong day.

I decided to call Bill Jones, the general manager of the company. Since he's a fellow Rotarian, he would surely help.

The general manager was out, but since I had someone on the phone, I asked "What is the difference between trash and garbage?"

The spokeswoman was real nice and said, "We sent you all the instructions last month and you now have a different can for garbage, another for paper trash, another for recycling and still another for yard waste. They are all collected the same day but on different weeks."

"Garbage," said the woman, "are things that come from the bathroom or kitchen."

"You mean like the bread you have in the freezer for a year after green things start growing on it?" I asked.

"That's right." she said. "Trash is basically everything else. In your recycling bin you should place plastics, glass and metal materials. In the other recycling bin you should put your junk mail, egg cartons, brown paper, magazines and cereal boxes after you remove the liners.

"Then you place your newspapers in paper bags and flatten out the cardboard and bundle those with string and place on a separate pile," she said.

The lady said it was up to the individual garbage collectors to decide if trash and garbage mixed, or if there is recycling in the bin where it shouldn't be.

I can't visualize two guys on a garbage truck spending that much time trying to figure out what the material is in the green bin.

"What do you have in that bin, George? Is that garbage or trash or recycling material?" one guy says to the other.

"I'm not sure what it is, Sam, but it has green things growing on it."

I will comply with the waste company's order to put all my materials in the proper containers. I might even buy a 96-gallon rolling cart for yard waste at $60 a cart, but that looks like a lot of work to haul to the street.

The garbage company said if I cooperate by separating out my recyclables, there will be fewer trash cans and less waste going to the landfill. But the company's brochure shows a line-up of six materials in cans and bags. There won't be enough room for my car in the driveway.

Complying with the garbage company's wishes is complex.

We have enough complexities in our lives as it is.

Oh for the simpler time when I only had one can out there for the garbage man to pick up. I knew him by name and gave him a ten-spot every Christmas.

Clyde Noel is a longtime contributor to the Town Crier.