Good For The Goose: Thanks to the reader who e-mailed a link to this National Public Radio story about our nation's bottle recycling woes.

 

I was intrigued by a comment from Nestle Waters North America CEO Kim Jeffrey that appears near the end of the article. Asked how he feels about bottle deposits, Jeffrey says he thinks they should be levied on all recyclable plastic containers sold in the United States. Not just beverage containers. Everything. Peanut butter, detergent, you name it.

 

So what do you think, Inboxers? Bull's-eye? Heresy? Somewhere in between? Discuss.

 

Dirty Work: At this juncture in American history, which job would you say is more thankless: garbage collection worker in Oakland, Calif. ; or president of the United States? Discuss.

 

And as of Monday, it looks like we will soon be able to add garbage collection worker in Vancouver to the above list of least rewarding jobs. In fact, Vancouver's strike, which encompasses virtually all of the city's services, has the potential to wreak even greater havoc on everyday life than the Oakland worker lockout.

 

But at least the Vancouver media are doing a decent job bracing the citizens for the torment they'll be going through. Here's a piece of newspaper-reporting-as-public-service of a very high order: The Vancouver Sun provides a list of tips for surviving a garbage strike.

 

Funny, isn't it though, how you could take virtually that whole list and retitle it something like "common-sense ways to take care of your waste pretty much all of the time, especially when it's hot outside?"

 

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.wastenews.com