An article in today's New Orleans Times-Picayune examines the success of the city's recently introduced curbside recycling program for residents. Six weeks after the program's implementation, 22 percent of the city's residents have signed up for the program, and the city's diversion rate stands at 2 percent.

Those numbers may seem low at first, but perhaps some patience and perspective are in order. According to the Times-Picayune, "Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that while New Orleans' recycling rates are low, they indicate a promising start. San Francisco, she said, also started out slowly when it first implemented a curbside program in the 1980s."

The article offers a detailed look at New Orleans' recycling history and, as indicated above, provides some interesting perspective on the early days of San Francisco's recycling program and its explosive growth over the years. Definitely check the article out.