You may not know it, but we live in The Cardboard Years. Before the pandemic there was already a vexing cardboard problem, since the spring of 2020 the misery in public space has only increased. Garbage containers became full because of the recycled product merrily unfolding in the dark. And even when they weren’t full, the containers were hidden behind the many, often huge, boxes that had been left haphazardly.
Also read: Boxes, boxes and even more boxes
Initially, at least partially, there was a case of force majeure: the municipal waste capacity was completely overtaken two years ago by the explosion in online orders and the associated cardboard consumption. The appearance of a slot crammed with cardboard—that hated grimace—became more or less commonplace.
Did you stand there with your good behaviour: with a pile of pressed cardboard under your arm that kept on sliding on the road on the way to the container and ended up there just as well, because yes, with all that waste pressed against you it was easy to look for the next container? much in demand.
The municipal garbage service is the Hugo de Jonge of cardboard
Cardboard is like corona: if everyone followed the rules, the problem would still be manageable. But a minority of people don’t give a damn and throw the packaging next to it instead of in a container, or don’t even bother to see if it would fit. The majority reacts aggrieved to all the rubbish and demands enforcement. Because the government is, of course, partly to blame – it doesn’t make any sense. The municipal garbage service is the Hugo de Jonge of cardboard, a bungler with vain texts on amsterdam.nl that are far too complicated and intricate and of course do not reach everyone. Nice, such a Waste Indicator, but who reads that?
Indeed, it took an astonishingly long time for the promised extra paper containers to arrive in the past year. Call it the tragedy of the Stopera: everyone can observe the slow and fragmented response to the cardboard problem with their own eyes. It seemed so simple: the plastic containers – which have become redundant since the failed experiment with separate collection – are replaced by paper containers. And now that we have finally succeeded, even more are needed because we now have even more packages delivered.
To drive you crazy. And that’s what happens, it drives everyone crazy. There is nothing more complaining about than about waste and according to a recent report by the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area Court of Auditors, the handling of the complaint tsunami is ‘only partially effective’. As soon as something is announced on amsterdam.nl about cardboard, it rains anger and annoyance from citizens.
They want sensors on the containers, a higher frequency of garbage collection, or at least finally answers to their questions.
And now ‘Hugo de Jonge’ demands that we tear the cardboard into slices first, but forget that many lack the strength to do so. The immense distance Stopera burger in a nutshell.
Curious how the city council will perform in 2022. Surveys are unnecessary, the cardboard is a simple indicator.
Auke Kok is a writer and journalist.
Also read: It just doesn’t work with the waste in Amsterdam: stench and piles of garbage bags
#cardboard #impotence #Stopera