TuscMoms.com

I am a little frustrated because I really want to recycle at my new house and it seems there are no services.
Why do they make it hard to recycle here? Back north there are pick up services in every neighborhood, it seems.
I will lug all of my stuff somewhere if I have to but why can't the city just pick it up?
Annoying.

I totally agree. In Florida, we had curbside pick up for everything. Here, we have to lug it down to tthe city dumpsters in Northport. However, they don't take plastic. My SIL and I have a system. She has curbside in Birmingham for everything but cardboard. So, she brings me her cardboard, and I save my plastic for her. Guess the environment is worth the effort...but it is a pain.

Kristi, the City of Tuscaloosa has been expanding their curbside recylcing neighborhood by neighborhood, and I don't know how to get your neighborhood up for consideration to be on that list, but I would call the City. We are fortunate to have curbside pick-up in our neighborhood, but at our old house we didn't, and I would just drop off my recyclables at the fire station. Here is a list of drop-off sites around the city.
http://www.tuscaloosa.com/index.asp?NID=236

Kristi,
I am so glad you posted this! Back in the Northeast, we had mandatory recycling -- so I've gone from one (pain in the arse) extreme to the other! I've been doing my best to recyle as much as possible, but we're still struggling with feeling guilty about throwing away our tin cans and our glass (and of course, a good bit of plastic; our neighborhood only takes 1 and 2.)

Does anyone know ...
1. Can we recycle glass in Tuscaloosa/Northport? Where?
2. Can we recycle tin cans? Where?
3. Can we recycle newspapers? Our neighborhood only seems to support white paper, and honestly, most of my white paper waste is shredding stuff, not recycling stuff.

Thanks so much, everyone!

Is your neighborhood recylcing the city's curbside? If so, here is the list of what they pick up (I'm thinking yours is different, as white office paper is not included in the city's program).
Items accepted in the recycling program are:

Newspapers
Magazines
Corrugated Cardboard
Aluminum Beverage Cans
Steel Food Cans (Tin Cans)
Plastic Soda Bottles (#1), Plastic Milk Jugs (#2), and other plastic containers marked #1 or #2.
http://www.tuscaloosa.com/index.asp?NID=237
As far as glass, there is not a local glass recycler, but there is a group that collects glass once a month and takes it somewhere (don't know where) for recyling. I will try to dig up the info on that - I've never participated myself.
And to throw in my own complaint about curbside - the collectors routinely leave my plastic clamshell and egg containers in my bin, in spite of the fact that they are #1. It drives me crazy!

do they have bigger reclying thingies you can get? these little blue ones we have are really just not big enough.

We had ones the size of our regular garbage can in Va.

I know it is so frustrating. We fortunately have curbside pickup in Tuscaloosa, but we are frustrated about the glass not being part of the pickup. The UA Sierra Club and Tuscaloosa SC during the school year have arranged glass pickups at the Rec Center, but it feels up so quickly. They have a big truck that they take to Birmingham. I will update you if I hear anything.

FYI, in today's paper there is a story about a couple who is starting a private curbside recycling company in Tuscaloosa.

They are only hitting certain neighborhoods and mine isn't one of them. Grrrr. I'd gladly pay $10 a month. Oh well.

Here's the breakdown:
If you live in the following neighborhoods, they'll come to you.

-Crabtree Downs
-Laurelwood
-Hunter's Run
-Mallard Creek
-South Ridge
-Waterford Place
-Hillcrest Gardens
-Remington
-Hinton Gardens
-Hinton Place
-Lenox South
-The Villages at Magnolia
-Magnolia Park
-Quail Ridge
-Ridgecrest

They will collect: aluminum and tin cans, No. 1 and No. 2 plastic products and paper materials such as cardboard, junk mail, magazines, office paper and newspapers

Cost: $20 start up fee, which includes the first month, then $10 a month

Call Michael Johnson at (205) 534-6003

YAY YAY YAY!
Tuscaloosa is starting curbside recycling! I am so excited!
We got the flyer in the mail this weekend.
It will cost $13 per month ($20 for the first month plus the bin). I'm sending my money in today.

Anyone else thrilled about this?

Do you mean the private company doing those other neighborhoods? The City of Tuscaloosa already does curbside recyling, and it's free (it just doesn't cover that many neighborhoods so far).

My flyer says it's a new service being offered to the residents in Tuscaloosa. Hmmmm. You know what, I think it's the private company that has simply expanded its services to other neighborhoods. And it looks like the price may have been upped.
I'm just glad that I'm now included!

We have curbside pick up in our neighborhood and I love it. They are kinda picky about what they will take so whatever they won't take I have to take to the end of the neighborhood to the fire station.