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Entry tags:
sanitation and greenhouse gas and bureaucracy...
Several years ago we bought a dehumidifier for our basement. It worked reasonably well until a few months ago when it decided its tank was full (despite having a garden hose that drains it directly into a drain in the floor) so it wouldn't run. Last month we bought a new one (which has worked very well so far) and needed to get rid of the old one. Since a dehumidifier is basically an air conditioner, it uses CFC's as compression-and-expansion gases (PV=NRT, doncha know), and they're a powerful greenhouse gas, so the city requires people to have the CFC's drained before the appliance can be recycled. You have to make a separate appointment for the CFC draining, after which they put a tag on your appliance and it can be picked up on your next recycling day.
So I made an appointment for two weeks ago. When I typed my address into the form, it said (correctly) that I have two curbs, one on the street in front of the house and one behind; which one did I want to leave it at? I checked the box for the street behind the house, the same place I always leave my trash and recyclables. I was supposed to put the dehumidifier out on the curb "after 4 PM on Thursday", and they would come by some time before noon on Friday to salvage the CFC's and tag it. I forgot and didn't put it out until 8 AM, and the city apparently never saw it.
So I made another appointment for last Thursday/Friday, carefully put it out on the curb about 6 PM, and the next morning there was a note on my door saying "we came by at 12:30 AM to drain the CFC's, but we couldn't because the appliance wasn't left on the curb." Which of course it was, exactly where I had said I would put it. Anyway, I made a third appointment for yesterday/today, again checking the box for the street behind our house, and put the dehumidifier out on the curb on the street behind the house at 9:00 Thursday morning (after that morning's trash pickup), to make sure I didn't forget Thursday night.
This morning I went out to walk the dogs, and when we returned via the back of the house, I didn't see the dehumidifier there. No, wait: my dehumidifier was across the street, under the train tracks, where people always dump their trash illegally. And it was mostly disassembled, but it didn't have a Department of Sanitation tag. I moved it back to the curb behind my house and brought the dogs inside. And there was a note on my front door saying "we came by at 8:45 AM to drain the CFC's, but we couldn't because the appliance wasn't left on the curb." This was at 8:51 AM, as though they had come by a minute or two before I returned with the dogs.
I called the city to ask if (a) they could call the truck, which must still be in the neighborhood because it was here five minutes ago, or (b) failing that, they could make yet a fourth appointment. But since the dehumidifier has already been disassembled, probably by metal salvagers, I'm guessing that whatever CFC's were in it have already escaped into the atmosphere. So I'm going to leave it on the curb for recycling, and hope they're willing to take it without a CFC-removal tag. Grump.
So I made an appointment for two weeks ago. When I typed my address into the form, it said (correctly) that I have two curbs, one on the street in front of the house and one behind; which one did I want to leave it at? I checked the box for the street behind the house, the same place I always leave my trash and recyclables. I was supposed to put the dehumidifier out on the curb "after 4 PM on Thursday", and they would come by some time before noon on Friday to salvage the CFC's and tag it. I forgot and didn't put it out until 8 AM, and the city apparently never saw it.
So I made another appointment for last Thursday/Friday, carefully put it out on the curb about 6 PM, and the next morning there was a note on my door saying "we came by at 12:30 AM to drain the CFC's, but we couldn't because the appliance wasn't left on the curb." Which of course it was, exactly where I had said I would put it. Anyway, I made a third appointment for yesterday/today, again checking the box for the street behind our house, and put the dehumidifier out on the curb on the street behind the house at 9:00 Thursday morning (after that morning's trash pickup), to make sure I didn't forget Thursday night.
This morning I went out to walk the dogs, and when we returned via the back of the house, I didn't see the dehumidifier there. No, wait: my dehumidifier was across the street, under the train tracks, where people always dump their trash illegally. And it was mostly disassembled, but it didn't have a Department of Sanitation tag. I moved it back to the curb behind my house and brought the dogs inside. And there was a note on my front door saying "we came by at 8:45 AM to drain the CFC's, but we couldn't because the appliance wasn't left on the curb." This was at 8:51 AM, as though they had come by a minute or two before I returned with the dogs.
I called the city to ask if (a) they could call the truck, which must still be in the neighborhood because it was here five minutes ago, or (b) failing that, they could make yet a fourth appointment. But since the dehumidifier has already been disassembled, probably by metal salvagers, I'm guessing that whatever CFC's were in it have already escaped into the atmosphere. So I'm going to leave it on the curb for recycling, and hope they're willing to take it without a CFC-removal tag. Grump.