Starnge Garbage Policy In Portland

This is a beautiful area in which to live but the residents of Portland are nutty about "environmental issues". Well, I should rephrase it and say they are way too tolerant of their politicians who use "global warming" and other nonsense as an excuse to pick their pockets with fees of all sorts. The people I have conversed with here do not like the excessive environmental regulations, some of them absurd attempts to generate more revenue. They gumble and hate it but never speak out in oppositon. It is not good.
One example of this is home garbage pick-up. When moving here I was charged and given 3 color coded cans, one for garbage, one for recycling and one for yard refuse. There is an extravagant charge for each of those cans, even if one does not want one or more of them. Any items put into the wrong can result in an extra fee assessed to the homeowner. Yes, there are garbage inspectors" to check on us. I have some broken items from my move here that need to be thrown out, yet when I telephoned the garbage collection department to inquire how to put it out I was told...err....here is a loose remembrance of the dialogue I had with the garbage collection company to illustrate it all concretely.

"Jim: I would like to know how to prepare and discard items damaged in my move here.

Garbage agent (GA from this point forward): How big are they? We won't pick up some items?

Jim: What? You are my garbage and trash contractor but you don't pick up trash?

GA: Just leave the items on the curb to the right of the cans and we will remove acceptable ones. There is a charge for each item collected.

Jim: What? You mean I am already paying exorbitant fees for pick-up and you charge extra when I use the service? This is crazy.

GA: Sir, we use all the money to better the environment of Portland.

Jim: Let me guess that your company is a private contractor with the government contract to remove the trash...and that your profit margin is as great as the environmental spending (Haha Ok, I got cynical at that point) . Was their competitive bidding for that contract? The costs for your pick-up are many times greater than most other municipalities. To tell me I am being robbed for enviromental good is enough to make me slap Al Gore!

GA: Sir I can't answer your questions. I am just an employee

Jim: Isn't that what the Nazi Concentration camp guards said too, they knew nothing?....Never mind. Where can I take the items myself to avoid being cheated by your company collecting them at my home?

GA: There are only two places in Portland for that, but they charge fees too.

Jim: You're kidding? You mean they fee me for doing their job? Is this a Kafka novel? Am I dreaming?

GA: All I can do is give you the telephone number to inquire with them about their fees.

Jim: Sigh...Forget it. I'll just dump the items in front of the house of your company's president...for free!

I think the lady GA had a heart attack at that point. I am not going to dump them there since my telephone call is on record. But I suspect that this company is politically connected, gets collection rates much higher than merited and pays kickbacks to the politicians who awarded their contract. People here are afraid to question the endless environmental fees here because the minority who push that politically correct program have a great psychological advantage over them.
One lady here told me she owns rental apartments and one of the residents did not collect her "3 cans" from the garbage dictators because the resident was out of town for months at a time and did not need them. Guess what happened? They fined the landlord, forcing her to pay the amount of the collection fees for all the time the cans were not used because her tenant didn't use the cans. At least they didn't tattoo a serial number ion her forearm.....
But wait! Even private business gets in on the environmental fee scam game. Today I purchased from a Target store here a pack of drinks that were packaged as aluminum cans. When I asked the sales person to explain why there was a 60 cent fee added he told me The $4.00 purchase turned into $4.60 because of the "deposit fee" for recycling aluminum cans. "How can I recycle those cans back to the store to get my desposit back," I asked. "I won't use all of them and I live in Louisiana, and will leave Portland in 10 days?"The clerk shrugged his shoulders and said, "It is crazy, but what can we do?"
That sums it up as well as anything. They are prisoners of the environmental nuts, hopeless slaves to insanityMaybe I should just throw all those cans in the Target parking lot with notes attached telling them to "keep my deposit".