Waste_Inbox

White Out: The big winter storm down South has been raining havoc on the region´s garbage collection schedules. No big surprise there; heavy snow and freezing rain tend to muck things up trash-pickupwise.

As if the weather snags weren´t enough, though, next Monday´s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday is expected to snarl up waste collection schedules even more.

Here are up-to-the-minute reports on trash collection, debris cleanup and other storm complications from Atlanta, and from Charlotte, Asheville and Fayetteville, N.C.

Ultimate Ultimatum: The city of Austin, Texas, is creating a reality TV show aimed at urging residents to reduce the amount of trash they generate. The Austin American-Statesman reports:

"The show, called ´Dare to Go Zero,´ will chronicle the lives of four Austin families as they tackle city-chosen ´dares´ aimed at decreasing the stuff they throw away. The families´ garbage will be weighed each week, and the family that reduces its trash output the most will win a prize. Kind of like ´The Biggest Loser: Municipal Solid Waste Edition.´ "

This raises a question: Will they manage to keep a lid on things if the competition escalates all the way to the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister Triple Dog Dare?

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

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