The Foundry

DENVER — The sponsors of The Big Tent are definitely taking good care of us bloggers at the Democratic National Convention this week. Bloggers are provided three free meals a day, free smoothies, and after around 1 p.m. free beer.

This doesn’t even include all the purveyors of organic snack products roaming around offering samples. Organic chocolate is a little grainy, but still quite delicious. The only problem is that everything mentioned above comes in some sort of packaging. That’s when you run into the trash police. Whenever you want to throw something away you are confronted with this:

Before you can dispose of anything you must first sort each of your unwanted items into one of three categories: trash, recycling or compost. Think those are easily determinable? Do you know what bin the papery metallic wrapper your organic chocolate bar wrapper belongs in? If it is not obvious, each sign has a list to explain:

Does that clear things up? No? Don’t worry. Each trash station also has a helpful volunteer to tell you which products go in which bins. But don’t expect to always get the same answers from different volunteers.

Of course, if I drop the lid of my organic fair trade Greek yogurt into the wrong bin, the worst I’ll get here is a dirty look. The situation is a little more “progressive” in San Francisco, where the city’s Department of the Environment is moving to establish a garbage police that will shift through citizens trash and fine offenders of the city’s mandatory recycling policy $1,000 per offense.