over the years, i've gotten used to separating 'trash' from 'compost' from 'recyclables'. it was messy and required some extra work on my part but i did it for the supposed greater good i e saving the planet. oh and i was married to someone who was just a bit, well how to put this in a nice way, was FANATICAL about the issue. of course, if you use lots of water to clean said recyclables before tossing them in the bin, are you wasting one precious resource to protect another? what is more precious - raw materials or water? well any way, that's a question for another time....
so lets say recycling is GOOD for the planet and what's good for the planet is good for its inhabitants - like humans - with me so far? so the city has tried to encourage this habit by providing [at your tax dollars expense of course] convenient bins on wheels that look just like the trash cans but different color lid. and its single stream which means that all acceptable materials can be thrown in all together. got the picture?
so at our apartment complex, the recycle bins are on the 'grass' side of the dumpsters. it perplexes me to watch people walk PAST the recycle bins to throw their cans/bottles/cardboard etc in the dumpster. do they not KNOW that the trash they just throw out could have been placed in the CLOSER and convenient bin that they had to walk past?
or do they just REFUSE to recycle? why would someone refuse to do something that is both GOOD and CONVENIENT?
do they think its a conspiracy?
a fraud?
is it a political/social/race thingey? you know, like I'M A CONSERVATIVE AND ONLY LIBERALS RECYCLE
or is more of a social thingey.......ONLY HIPPIES 'SAVE' TRASH FROM THE DUMPSTER
or is it a race thingey............YOU NOT WHITE [brown, red, yellow - take your pick] THEN WHY YOU RECYCLING?
so here's MHO, which is the whole point of my blog, the MORE items that i can recycle INSTEAD of putting in my trashcan, saves me money. yes, that's right $$$$$$. okay, maybe not a whole lot of money but since i have to BUY TRASH BAGS, the less bags i use, the less $$$ i spend on plastic bags that i'm going to throw away anyway. and i HATE buying something that is specifically going to be THROWN IN THE TRASH.
it boggles this pea brain......
I'm glad they started using covered bins in out neighborhood... I think a lot of people didn't recycle when we had the open crates because they didn't want the neighbors to see the empty beer and wine bottles.
ReplyDeleteOne of my neighbors has two trash cans and NEVER uses the recycle bin. They paid to get the extra trash can when they could have easily just put 1/2 their "trash" in the bin. It does boggle the mind.