This bag is not a toy

A plastic bag just showed up rubber-banded to our front railing. Look, it even has the mayor's name on it, lest you forget who the mayor is while putting it in a crib or whatever it is people do with plastic bags:

 

Oh, and it also came with an instruction sheet, including which neighborhoods are allowed to use it:

According to this sheet, not only can I put my recyclables in this bag, but I can also go spend my own money to buy more similar bags, rather than using the big wheely cart that showed up for free, or a box or paper bag that are also available in many locations for free

Now, I'm a huge fan of recycling, and I support anything that encourages recycling (and I especially support things that keep people's shit contained and not blowing around in my street), but what? The way that the city is choosing to encourage recycling is to spend money giving out plastic bags?

How about if they start enforcing the city code, which says that recyclables are not permitted in trash and that trash and recycling all need to be securely contained? They could change a lot of people's behavior really quickly and get a lot of revenue for the city if they fined all the people who put out bags and cans full of obvious recyclables. These bags aren't going to change the behavior of people who don't follow regulations and don't respect their neighborhoods.