Educating Tomorrow

At the start of school year at my new school, I got onto the Department of Sanitation web site to find out what my new school's recycling collection schedule is. I'd been told this is where school recycling coordinators should go to find out when their school's recycling is collected. It's supposed to be as easy as typing in your address.

In the past, I never had an easy time finding out what my school recycling collection schedule was, but I kept trying because DOS and DOE people assured me it's simple, with a tone suggesting I must be doing something wrong.

Last year I ended up calling 311 to file a complaint that I couldn't verify my recycling collection schedule and that it was actually being collected when it was supposed to be. 311 said I couldn't get the number for my garage and I couldn't file a complaint unless I had put recycling on the curb on the proper collection day (that I wasn't sure of) and it hadn't been picked up. (But what if it had been picked up by a garbage truck because they put it out on the wrong day?) I explained that I'd made special arrangements with my garage for mechanized (dumpster) paper recycling and that's not reflected in the online schedule at all, but it didn't make a difference--they wouldn't help me.

So, here I was again. I was at another school and I had to set about trying to tackle an issue I felt I never really solved during the past four years as my previous school. 

This time around it went a little more smoothly. I'm hoping this is a result of the hearing. This is what happened:

I went to the DOS site and typed my school's address and this is what I got:

The collection schedule for 
300 ADELPHI STREET (Brooklyn) is: 

311: We don't have information for school recycling.
Me: Well, you are supposed to.
311: Your recycling collection is only one day a week, Fridays.
Me: Is that for all recycling?
311: Yes.
Me: That doesn't sound right.
311: Hold on one second. (I wait much longer.) We just don't know. They may go by the schedule I just gave you or they may be a different one. My supervisor suggests you call the Department of Sanitation Headquarters at 646-885-3769. 
Me: What are their hours?
311: It doesn't give me that information, but I'm guessing 9-5.

So I called the Department of Sanitation Headquarters (I think their hours are 6-2 PM) and they told me the name of my school garage and gave me contact information for the Supervisor: District 2 in Brooklyn: District Super of the Garage: Thomas Walsh, 718-768-4105 or 4128.

When I spoke with him (you have to catch them early in the day), I requested a paper recycling dumpster, which he said he would look into and get back to me the following week (I still haven't heard from him and now he won't return my phone calls). But the good thing was that he increased our paper collection to four times per week and glass, metal and plastics to two times per week. I immediately made a poster for the custodians.

I have since been able to get the Supervisor's Mr. Walsh's email, so I'm cc'ing the DOE on emails (and others) so I have an electronic trail.

I'm still frustrated that we can't get a paper dumpster. We have twice the student population of my previous school and they have six dumpsters.

I would like to hear everyone else's experience: coquille@educatingtomorrow.org.