How work-arounds happen

About two weeks ago, I wrote to the mayor of our community:

It has been widely noticed that when the city employees pick up the trash at Weeks Field [a 9-acre playing field], they combine the trash from the recycling bins with the regular trash into the City truck. 

I imagine if they do it here, they do the same at other city parks and fields.

Would you please look into this and have them change their practice so they can be supportive of the City's recycling program?

I was concerned because hundreds of people per week use this field for athletic purposes and carefully place lots of plastic containers in the recycling bins.  He replied: 

Thanks. We are looking into this now and will be back to you.

One of our aldermen (i.e., a city legislator) got in touch with the right person and sent me a follow-up:

You are correct.  They have been combining trash with recycling at Weeks.  Public Works has informed me that they are changing their practices and I will get more clarification on what that will entail.

She included a copy of the email she had received from the DPW person:

One of the issues with park recycling receptacles is that we get a lot of contamination, especially dog poop.  Not so with village receptacles.

Ah ha!  A work-around!

I sense that those of you from the hospital world have already begun a root cause analysis.  People who walk their dogs at this park have thoughtfully maintained a stash of plastic bags so that no one will be caught short.  Why, then, do these civic-minded dog owners throw the plastic bags with dog poop in the green recycling bin instead of the blue trash bin? I'd like to guess that most of them think the plastic bag is recyclable.  (It is not.) Or they just don't think about it at all.

The good news is that the same people walk their dogs on this playing field every day of the year.  In fact, my original email to the mayor was based on reports from those very dog walkers.

I bet if we explained the issue to them and asked them to be more careful about their disposal habits, the case of the improperly thrown away dog poop could be resolved.  Then, the city workers could just recycle the stuff in the green bins like everyone else does in the city.

Otherwise, I can just imagine what kind of work-around will be designed to get around the current work-around.  If the City is like most hospitals, the proposed solution will be more expensive and labor-intensive.  Perhaps a Leaner approach will come up with a no-cost solution.