Do as the Romans do

Their coffee is more refined, but so is waste management

BY CLAIRE MOSER FOR GREENING OF OIL

Of course when I decided to spend five months in Rome, I knew there would be parts of the Italian and Roman culture that would surprise me. Coffee is generally served standing up at a bar and a “coffee” is actually a shot of espresso (and is always served in ceramic cups).

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The “drip coffee” Americans drink does not exist here but what they do have is much better. Also, unlike the Starbucks experience where a vanilla latte can be ordered any time of the day, ordering a latte or cappuccino after noon is completely unacceptable (if you do order one, the Italians will raise an eyebrow).

Six days a week

Different coffee cultures are to be expected, but one thing that never crossed my mind to think about was the trash.

In my two homes—Los Angeles and Ithaca—trash is picked up once a week. It’s simple really. There are two different bins for recyclables, bottles, cans, plastics, paper, etc. and trash, everything else. Ithaca is unique because a lot of individuals and companies choose to compost on their own (either with their own compost pile or have a company pick up compost materials for them) but it doesn’t get much more complicated than that. Yet, for some reason, the Romans complicate things a bit—and it is much better, just like their coffee.

At my apartment in Trastevere, trash is picked up six days a week.

Living somewhere is quite different than simply visiting and I am truly experiencing the Roman lifestyle. Each day of the week, a different kind of trash is picked up in a different color trash bag. We even had “trash orientation” when we moved into our apartment.

The brown bags are for organic trash and are picked up on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Green bags are for non-recyclable materials (I would have thought green would be something recyclable) and are picked up on Mondays and Thursdays. The recyclable plastic, glass and metal containers in blue bags are picked up on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And finally, the white bags for all types of paper and cardboard are picked up every Tuesday and Friday.

Six days a week can get complicated—especially if you live with roommates, which I do—and the intense separation of recyclables, trash, compost and paper is something I have had to get used to.  

In Beverly Hills the city sorts your trash for you

Does all of this separation make any difference? The City of Beverly Hills recently signed a seven-year contract with a waste hauling company that takes trash to what is called a “dirty MRF,” or material recovery facility.

A dirty MRF takes all solid waste and then separates the recyclables themselves, so Beverly Hills residents put all of their household refuse and recyclable items in one large blue or black bin on their curbside.

The idea for Beverly Hills was that source separation (when we sort waste before it is collected) can be inefficient if citizens don’t sort correctly. However, this is not always the case.

Alexa Kielty from the San Francisco Department of the Environment says that the recycling rate is 40 percent for source separation vs. 10-15 percent for dirty-MRF recovery for households (LA Times). In fact, dirty MRFs often are inefficient because contaminants such as food waste make paper products unrecyclable when they come in contact (even though they are allowed in the same blue or black bin).

In addition to the colored bag separation of Rome, trash is picked up six times as often as I’m used to. But apparently the Romans would have a fit if it were collected any less often. There are unimaginable garbage issues in Naples, and the impression I’ve gotten is that Romans would not stand for anything like that and want to separate themselves from the literal trash south of them.

Making good habits

When first arriving in Rome I was impressed with the dedication of households to take their trash out every day, until I started to get the hang of it (this is when the eight other roommates come in handy).

We are still working out the kinks, but a smooth system is developing. Separating to this extent is also becoming second nature. My initial trash-culture shock is wearing off and it is becoming simple—like just a blue or black bin.

Even better, I will never complain about taking out the trash just once a week back at home or forget to recycle a bottle or can—maybe I will even start a compost. 

About Claire Moser

Originally from Los Angeles, Claire Moser is a junior Urban and Regional Studies major at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY concentrating on environmental issues and natural resources.

Moser does research on environmental policies and land tenure issues with two professors in the City and Regional Planning Department of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. She spent last summer as an intern in Washington DC following the American Clean Energy and Security Act attending numerous federal hearings and reading the all 1300 pages of the bill (HR 2454). She is also a part of the Cornell University Program Board and the Cornell Concert Commission bringing great speakers and performers to campus.

Claire is currently spending the spring semester of her junior year located in Trastevere, Rome studying the city and its green living.

Contact Claire Moser at claire.moser@gmail.com