Desperately seeking purple bags…
Warning: Don’t plan any spring-cleaning projects in Lowell without securing your trash disposal first. As a multiple-recycling-container family, it’s no trouble fitting our trash in the large magenta barrel the city provided as part of its new trash collection system. In fact, we’re big supporters of the movement and have happily added our filled recycling bins to the many dotting our Highlands neighborhood as the new program appears to be working to increase recycling. That is, however, until we did some much-needed sorting and cleaning last weekend, and ended up with more trash than could fit in the one assigned container (along with half a garage full of giveaways, which we’ll deal with later). Since we are a family of procrastinators as well as recyclers and pack rats, the search for the infamous purple bags did not begin until last night—just hours before trash pickup was scheduled. The five stores visited included Shop ‘n Save and Walmart at Drum Hill (who were both out), two convenience stores on Westford Street—Windsor Shop and Country Farms—who said they had not been able to participate(?), and Walgreens on Chelmsford Street who has been out of them for weeks. We didn’t try Market Basket because by then we were out of time and patience. (And me, lover of all things purple: It’s ironic!) Alas, a quick check on the city’s recycling website didn’t yield any clues about where we might find the illusive bags, so I guess we’re left holding the trash, literally, for another week.