Thursday, January 27, 2011

[jules' pics] 1/26/2011 08:17:00 PM

Overflowing rubbish bin outside the Moscone Centre(*), just as the AGU morning session was starting. My jetlagged and coffee addled brain thought it looked startling similar to a giant frappuccino

(* If it's a "rubbish bin" it may as well be a "centre" too.)



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Posted By Blogger to jules' pics at 1/26/2011 08:17:00 PM

12 comments:

EliRabett said...

Ashtray

Hank Roberts said...

> ashtray

Yep. Tsk.

And those are recyclable paper cups and wrappers, tho' I don't know if the lids are #1/#2 or something else.

Looks like Starbucks needs to talk to Moscone Center.

"... we get more customer comments about recycling than any other environmental issue - especially when it comes to our cups ...."
http://www.starbuckscoffee.com/responsibility/environment/recycling

Moscone's screwed up, apparently:

"... Put bottles & cans into marked recycling bins. Throughout the show, deposit your glass juice bottles, aluminum soda cans, and plastic water bottles into the marked recycling bins. No Starbucks cups are allowed! ...."
http://www.moscone.com/pdf/Exhibitor_GreenGuide.pdf

Yet they're apparently complying with the rule about composting to some extent:

"... • Compost – All SAVOR’s disposable serveware is compostable. Compost is collected at large catered functions in clearly marked bins...."
http://www.moscone.com/site/do/mtgplanner/guideline/view;jsessionid=05868BCBA393CCE62104755EBFB948C2?id=134

So why were the climatologists using the ashtrays for Starbucks cups? Someone's failed to realize that meetings nowadays run more on caffeine than nicotine?

Steve Bloom said...

Hey, complete with cinnamon sprinkles!

So there's composting collection only at the major events, which explains the cup ban at other times. Lame, but OTOH they're still far ahead of most.

Of course those sleeves are fine for the paper bins.

IMHO people should just bring their own cups and there ought to be signage to encourage it. I have a probably 10-y.o. stainless steel Starbucks cup that I take everywhere I go. It's got a hard rubber-coated handle and bottom that will deteriorate eventually, but based on experience so far it seems to be durable enough to last about as long as I'm likely to.

David B. Benson said...

Jules, your best pix yet!

:-)

jules said...

Hank: Well the AGU is a broad church so probably it was the oil company funded geologists who thoughtlessly tossed their bux mugs into the ashtray. Is it really an ashtray? It looks awfully large for an ash tray... But then everything is so awfully large in the USA.

More seriously, it never occurred to me to recycle my coffee cups while in SF. The only evidence of recycling that I saw during the whole week was a small bin in the hotel room with a recycle label on it, but there were no instructions included as to what went in the bin so that wasn't a great deal of use.I wasn't aware that the USA did any recycling...

David: Really? That's depressing... :-(

James Annan said...

David: Really? That's depressing... :-(

Yeah, hard to justify splashing out on the next Nikon D8000XS+ body and F1.2 200mm anti-vibrate, auto-focus, auto-compose, wi-fi enabled talking lens when a small point-and-shoot does better :-)

David B. Benson said...

Jules, Pullman has had a curb-side recycling program for 20 years now and we certainly were not the first.

Do try to keep up. ;-)

Steve Bloom said...

Believe it or not, SF has the best collection program in the country. Had you kept your eyes peeled, you would have seen composting collection bins here and there. It's mandatory for food-related businesses (inc. coffee houses) and all residences.

WV suggests having the proper attitude when obtaining a pastry at Starbucks: scorne

Steve Bloom said...

BTW, there's a good chance the cups in the hotel room bin would have ended up in the composting stream. You could have, you know, asked the management about it.

jules said...

No. Recycling has to be idiot proof. We never did work out how to do during 2 months of being in the UK last year, as the bins, the signs and the council website were all contradictory. The people couldn't help either as apparently the rules are all different all over the country.

James Annan said...

It's funny cos "foreigners don't understand our recycling" is an oft-heard Japanese refrain. Whereas in fact the recycling here is pretty straightforward once you learn it, but just about every time a new (Japanese) neighbour has moved in, they have cocked up once or twice before getting the hang of it!

willard said...

I put up the photo here:

http://neverendingaudit.tumblr.com/post/2975198057/just-before-a-morning-session-of-an-atmospheric

I hope you do not mind.

I too think this is a most powerful photo.