Pick one. - Back to just Joe

In a way, B and C are similar, but B says they are blind to the type of bin, and just go for the closest one. C says that they see what kind of bin it is, but they don't care, and they dump whatever they have into whatever bin. - Back to just Joe

is this a UX problem tho? I remember Don Norman writing that if you have to have a sign on a door saying which way to push / pull to open it, you were doing it wrong. - Stephan!e•CogSc!L!brar!an

That may be a part of it, but I don't know if that is 25% or 75% of the issue. - Back to just Joe

Lots of smart people on my campus (including me) find the 3-bin system difficult. I call it the Disposal Final Exam. Not everything I want to toss is listed on the long lists of things that are accepted in each bin, so there's a lot of judgment involved. And then you go to a different campus and the lists are different. - lris

I wish there was a consistent color visual. We have gray (trash) and blue (recycling). But other places on campus have all blue. Other places I go use other colors... I'd like something like Red = Waste; Green = Paper; etc.. - Hedgehog

I hear they fine people in SF if you put recyclable or compostable material in the waste container. I wonder if their adherence is any better than average or if the city of SF just makes a ton of money off of policing bins. - Victor Ganata

I had this issue in Oakland over the weekend: ate at a restaurant with three bins (compost, trash and recycling). I appreciate these things, but dammit, I'm just trying to clear my table and go on my merry way, why do I have to think about what goes where? Doesn't help when the signs for what's okay to put in which bin are just on one side. - Corinne L

I think maybe having to think is part of the point, though? Like, if you're going to be more conscious of what you throw away, you have to think about it? - laura x

Victor: I'd guess SF's average is pretty good (and the fining is a few spotchecks, I think). Here in Livermore, we're diverting 75%-80% of the waste stream through the three-bin system; my guess is that San Francisco does better than that. (Incentive here: your garbage rate depends on your *trash* bin size, and goes up very rapidly for medium and large trash bins.) - walt crawford

What I've found interesting is the big/little campaign here: Posters with Mr. Pizza Box (not named) telling you that he belongs in the greenwaste (compost) bin, along with other food-soiled paper/cardboard. - walt crawford

FWIW, we try to be consistent with trash having black or gray bags, green for compost, and blue for recycling. - Back to just Joe

Is that a reasonably universal scheme? (That's how our barrels work.) Wheeling the barrels back yesterday, I was reminded of the issue with doofuses: Namely, how plastic barrels have to have "NO HOT ASHES" molded into the front of the cover. Because, I assume, people were dumping hot ashes into a plastic barrel... - walt crawford