I like to keep things positive around here, but sometimes it helps to point out mistakes rather than successes – we learn from our mistakes too, right? One of our first columns was Weekly Trashed, which was a photographic look at poor trash disposal activity.

On a recent trip to a Mount Pleasant recycling drop site, it was clear that people were making just as many mistakes with their recycling as they were their trash. And since 2008 was the year of the Fail meme, which has generated its own blog and Wikipedia entry, I thought it might be time to start  a new column: Recycling Fail!

I mean, we’ve all been to one of Charleston County Recycling‘s drop sites and seen the piles of trash people have left – what are they thinking? I’ve even blogged about the serious problems they are having at one of the Mount Pleasant drop sites.

The first pic above is the most interesting, only because they made it all the way to the drop site and THEN failed. I mean, after you know what to recycle, one of the only other rules is to flatten your boxes. It even says so right on the dumpster! FAIL!

And what about the person that left a bag of trash and a pumpkin? A pumpkin??? I wish we had county-sponsored composting, but that doesn’t mean I can toss used holiday fruit wherever I please.  Also note that the pumpkin was discarded in a recyclable bag.

The person who left the mess below clearly scoffs at the rules. They probably drive in the left lane, take 2 newspapers, and sneak home office supplies too. Rules are rules peeps, so lets try to keep the trash in the landfill, not in the middle of a parking lot. I mean, that’s someone’s fence/backyard right there…how would that make you feel?

If you’ve seen some Recycling Fail around town, or even have some pics, please let us know!