One would truly believe I have too much time on my hands. But something inside me just can’t let it go when I see such blatant wastefulness!
We attended a children’s birthday party this weekend at a kids gym in New Jersey. It was located in a huge suburban shopping center along with a preschool, a pottery studio, several restaurants, and other assorted suburban necessities. (Also note that next to the shopping center was a large billboard “Think Green! New Green Living Condos Coming Soon!”)
Alas, the party came with plenty of paper plates, tiny water bottes, and pizza boxes. That’s fine. I get it, I really do. But why is there no recycling here??
I just had to ask the 14-year-old girl in charge, who replied, “Yeah, a lot of people ask us about that. The landlord of the shopping center doesn’t want to pay for recycling.”
Great, so this whole shopping center doesn’t recycle and everyone feels pretty much helpless (or, sadly, doesn’t really care). I imagine it’s quite common for these shopping centers to be owned by landlords halfway across the country who couldn’t care less about the community as long as their rent check clears on time. I could go on, jaded and angry, but I know it will make me feel a little bit better to at least try to do something.
It only takes me two minutes on the Web to find out who is in charge of commercial recycling in this township. It takes me another two minutes to type an email. It may lead nowhere, but it’s far more likely to get to the right ears than if I just rant and rave about it on my blog.
So, no, I don’t have too much time on my hands. But that four minutes could have just as easilly been spent watching Charlie Sheen’s latest rant on Youtube. I think the former leaves me feeling slightly more empowered.
Subject: Recycling at Village Square Shopping Center
Dear Mr. Drummond and Ms. Felix,
This weekend I attended a children’s birthday party at The Little Gym in the Village Square Shopping Center in West Windsor. The party produced a huge amount of recyclable waste, as parties tend to do, but when I asked the staff about recycling they informed me that the shopping center’s landlord does not recycle as he does not wish to pay for it. This is a large shopping center with many businesses that clearly produce tons of recyclable waste. I am not sure what the legal enforcement Mercer County does for commercial recycling, but I wanted to inform you as it is extremely disheartening to see this kind of wastefulness and disregard for community.
Thank you so much for your attention to this matter.
Response less than 24 Hours Later:
Ms Wolf,
Thank you for your email regarding the lack of recycling efforts at the Village Square Shopping Center in West Windsor Township. I will look into this matter immediately and make sure recycling is enforced.
Thank you.
Paige’s Books
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