I’m sure I wasn’t the only student who found myself sitting on the floor of my new apartment a few weeks ago surrounded by chaos. On my right, the floor was covered with wadded balls of newspaper and plastic bottles from cleaning out the refrigerator. On my left, stacks of old magazines and school papers that I’d been planning to throw out for months threatened to breed and multiply. And sitting beneath me? A mountain of flattened cardboard boxes begging to be taken out and recycled. Year after year, move-in week creates a massive amount of recyclable waste.

When I somehow managed to make it outside with my offering to the goddess of plastic, paper and cardboard, I was greeted by a large dumpster heaped with every kind of refuse imaginable, but no separate bin for recyclables. I walked around the building to see if I was missing something, yet found nothing resembling a recycling receptacle. Feeling guilty but exhausted, I reluctantly put my carefully separated recyclables in the dumpster.

Severely annoyed with the situation, I Googled Madison’s recycling ordinances later that night, wondering why I had just destined some hopeful boxes and milk jugs to a landfill. As it turns out, choosing whether to provide tenants with a separate bin for recycling is not optional for landlords — it’s the law.

Madison, Dane County and the state of Wisconsin all have strict recycling laws. Madison‘s ordinance prohibits the mixing of newsprint, yard waste, office paper, magazines, cardboard, metal and aluminum cans and containers, glass bottles and jars, plastic containers and various other items with other refuse or garbage and requires these items to be placed in separate containers.

Madison‘s ordinance makes landlords responsible for “maintaining an effective means for tenants to comply with the requirements” of the recycling law. It also requires landlords to “provide for separation and recycling of the above-listed items in a manner conducive to the recycling of said items” and to “place and maintain adequate separate containers in convenient locations for use by tenants.”

That’s funny, because my building’s rental agent, J. Michael Real Estate, doesn’t seem to know about this ordinance. They must have a sense of humor though, because they gave us an entire booklet explaining the recycling requirements with our move-in information. They just forgot to give us a means of complying with them.

I made numerous attempts to contact J. Michael Real Estate about the problem, speaking with them several times over the phone as well as leaving messages and writing e-mails. Not only did they seem to lack concern about the problem, but I felt like they didn’t even know what I was talking about.

A quick stroll by a few other apartment buildings on my street indicated that my landlord doesn’t seem to be the only offender, and I suspect that the problem may be even more widespread. These apartment buildings house mostly students, many of whom don’t have a car to find off-site recycling, so most just end up throwing everything in with the rest of the garbage. The issue is — how can anyone recycle if they don’t even have the means?

Madison has many ordinances to enforce, some of them as archaic as prohibiting the slaughter of live animals on sidewalks. These are hardly things to which most citizens would object, and I can’t imagine the slaughter of a goat would go unnoticed at the next town meeting either. So why is it that, in a city that prides itself on environmental awareness, the brazen disregard of the city’s very practical recycling ordinances can go completely unpunished, and worse yet, unnoticed?

I can’t say that, as a general proposition, Madison‘s finest aren’t diligent in enforcing city ordinances, and some of these laws clearly stand high on the enforcement priority list. For example, citizens plagued by the horror and impending danger of an expired meter need not worry — your friendly parking attendant will never miss a beat. Be sure to ask the guys from Jin’s Chicken and Fish, for they will tell you that Madison‘s parking enforcement is efficient to the point of contempt.

The merits of municipal recycling programs are self-evident, so I won’t insult your intelligence by reciting them here. Knowing now that we’re safe from illegally-parked food carts, I would hope that Madison officials would turn their heads to slightly more pressing matters with longer-term consequences.

It’s obvious that something this important cannot be ignored, so we, the students and residents of our beloved Madison, must stand up and take action. This is an area where we can make a big difference with little effort. If your landlord is disregarding Madison‘s recycling ordinances, do yourself and your city a favor and contact Madison‘s Streets & Recycling Department to register your complaint.

E-mail [email protected] or call 246-4532 (East) or 266-4681 (West).

Laura Brennan ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in communicative disorders.