Marxist garbage

You're probably wondering where in the world I'm going with a headline like that, but I just listened to the interview WSPD's Fred Lefebvre did with a representative from Republic, who - through a contract with the county - is the new trash collection provider for the City of Toledo. (interview will be linked when available on WSPD)

Republic is offering a rewards program for recycling through Recyclebank- you earn points for the amount of weight of the recyclables and then, based upon the amount of points, you can get coupons (for example: a $10 off a purchase of $50 at a local department store). This, according to what was said this morning, is how it works:

* each household puts their recyclables in their bins
* each bin has a chip that tracks it to the address and is used to weigh the amount of recyclables being disposed of.
* every route, not every address, will be aggregated for determining the weights.
* the total amount of recyclables collected from each route will determine how many points are awarded to all the households within the route.
* No matter how much you, individually, recycle, all households within the route will earn the same amount of points, based upon the weight.

So, if you're a family of five who recycles a lot and your neighbor is a single older widow who recycles a little, it doesn't matter. You both get the same number of points.

And just for reference, under the city's current program all of Point Place was a 'route.'

It's a 'community' program - a cooperative one, the representative explained, and he hopes that you'll provide friendly pressure to your neighbors to increase their recycling so 'everyone benefits.'

No - it's a Marxist program: from each according to his ability (amount recycled) to each according to his need (for coupons). Or perhaps a 'redistribution of wealth' wherein the benefits are collected and then distributed to all equally regardless of effort to produce said benefits.

Great!