First Bins at a shopping mall!!

Friday, June 12, 2009

First Bins at a shopping mall!!

Bins at a shopping mall - Ward Warehouse.
Brought to you by Steve.

5 comments:

steveJune 13, 2009 at 1:49 PM
can and bottles have appeared and disappeared. it's working!
ReplyDelete
Replies
steveJune 16, 2009 at 3:37 PM
the bins were full on sunday afternoon. gone by the evening.

everyday there are a few empties in the bins. and every evening they're gone. :)

i'm really impressed that they're getting used. people want to help.
ReplyDelete
Replies
steveJune 21, 2009 at 7:27 PM
still there and still be filled on a daily basis.
ReplyDelete
Replies
steveJune 24, 2009 at 5:09 PM
well, they're gone! lasted 2 weeks at least AND people were using them. sad day today.
ReplyDelete
Replies
nomoolaJune 25, 2009 at 2:25 PM
any idea who took them?
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

about the Anarchist Recycling System

It all started one day in 2004 when the city dropped off a blue recycling bin at our place. We were so happy. "FINALLY!" we thought. Nerdily we put all our recyclables in and waited for the pick up. We waited, and waited, and waited for two sad years. They never came. Frustrated, we took matters into our own hands. We made a simple wire mesh bin and attached a sign with a tongue-in-cheek anarchist message, "HI-5 / Take, Leave, Whatevas..." We added our redeemables and set it up at our front yard. Viola they were picked up. Soon unknown people dropped off their own redeemables, and these too were picked up without ceremony!!! If it worked so well at our front yard, we thought why not put them everywhere.

The idea caught on very quickly. People invited us to do workshops. We collaborated with community groups. A few people sent money for materials. We even received a small grant from the Hawaii People's Fund. By our unscientific estimate, over 1,000 bins have placed on O'ahu along with a few on Maui.

In 2011 the unexpected happened. The coordinator of Honolulu City and County's Environmental Services (ENV) called us. Instead of freaking out or being defensive she told us she liked the HI-5 bins, the simplicity of its concept, its design, and its community-building potential. To make a long (and painfully bureaucratic) story short ENV officially adopted the HI-5 project in 2013.

Like we did before, ENV will work with anyone, particularly groups, to make and set up bins, providing instructions and all needed supplies. Most miracously ENV kept the language of our [TAKE, LEAVE, WHATEVAS...] signs AND our DIY instructions that explicitly say to [Trust Without Apology]. To prove that they meant it, they do not provide pickups. A major triump over the irrational fear of strangers! Anarchists are everywhere.

So go ahead...
- Request a bin-making kit or a workshop from C+C Environmental Services
- Or better yet, downloadable step-by-step instructions and take matters into your own hands

Lastly, we must acknowledge that recycling, no matter how comprehensive, do nothing in dealing with gluttonous First World consumption patterns and the excessive packaging around all the sad shit we buy. The larger purpose of the HI-5 bin project is to create a consciousness of our interdependency through actual practice and real relationships, not based on abstract notions of groups or communities.