Now let’s talk recycling.
Now everyone has always been told about the three R’s
Reduce - Reuse - Recycle
But it amazes me how many people don’t actually follow these
three easy points. I recently had about a 9 hour wait in an airport waiting to
fly to Australia, and yes I’m the guy who clicks yes to the extra carbon off setting
charge. But anyway spent about 5 hours sitting near to a group of three bins;
they were paper and card, plastics and general waste.
During my time there I must have watched hundreds for people
wander past and many of who were attempting to down bottles of water and other
liquids before going through security and in some cases they would have put
even the hardest of student drinkers to shame in the time it took them to
finish litre bottles of water.
After these were finished it amazed me how many people would
simply put it in the general waste bin simple because it was the first in the
line of bins in the directions of security. I would say around 2/3rds of the
people that needed to bin something put an item into the general waste bin when
it could have been placed into a recycling bin next to it. It isn’t just there
however if you look into any bin in public and households they are over flowing
with recyclable goods which are destined for landfills
 |
| A landfill packed with recyclable materials |
So all I’m really trying to say in this post is that just
take a second longer to look at the options available to you when disposing of
waste. In many developed countries it is now possible to find recycling bins
spread out in public. However if you aren’t able to find a suitable bin
possibly consider taking the rubbish home where you can recycle it yourself.
Now I understand that many people don’t want to carry
rubbish around with them all day especially if they are not heading home for a
while. So instead try to prioritise as much as it pains me to say things like
this. Paper and card break down faster and have less energy put into its
production than items such as plastic
bottles and aluminium cans so if there is a choice bin the paper and aim to
recycle as much plastic, glass and metal as possible.
You can take things a little bit further however by simple
picking up any of these three groups I’ve mentioned if you see them laying
around and either take them home to recycle or find an appropriate bin. I know
no one wants to pick up manky bits of rubbish on their way home from work or
the shops but if everybody could pick up ‘clean’ pieces it would greatly reduce
the amount of litter you see and make those walks a much more enjoyable experience.
It’s going to leave you with this link which is both
interesting and informative and shows what actually happens to plastic after
you’ve finished with it.
So I hope next time it comes to bin something you’ll
remember and take the right option.
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