Friday, November 21, 2008

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle


The "wheelie-bins" used for household solid waste disposal are gray with black hinged lids, and the curbside bins for mixed recycling (yes, we don't separate materials at home) are blue. Garden clippings and leaves go into a muted green bin. But if you want the exciting colors, take your excess cardboard, mixed paper, and glass right over to the solid waste transfer station. Convenient ramps lead right up to the tops of the truck-sized collection containers, neatly labeled for their proper contents.

It's true. Americans have a remarkably different idea of the fit of their clothes than Europeans do. We don't like anything too binding or snug. We like the blood to circulate easily to all the important places, with room to breathe.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

We only have one blue for recyclables. The trash goes in plastic bags so it can stay around for another thousand years.

Unknown said...

Here we have 4 colours for the different kind of recycables. The reds, previously for batteries only, can now be used for every type of electronic device.

Very funny comment about the fitting! :-)

Anonymous said...

Recycling is very important to me and also how to manage the wastes!

Dina said...

Nice butt shot, uhh, I mean recycling shot.
It's so organized.

Halcyon said...

I really wish we had more recycling facilities here in Jackson. We have curbside, but they only really take newspaper, cans and 1 & 2 plastics. I feel bad throwing away catalogues and magazines and all of the 5 plastics that accumulate. :(

Do you have battery recycling? I really feel terrible about throwing batteries in the bin.

Kym said...

On of my most dreaded chores is driving the garbage in to the dump. We don't get service to our house so every couple weeks we have to haul it in. There I have to put each type of recycling into its bin. Then, I have to do the rest of my town chores feeling like I'm covered in a film of garbage!

Sarah said...

Althoug I could not see your photo even after refreshing the page,I liked your post.
Here in Iran,the culture of recycling is under improving too.
A special car come to colect all recycable things every week on tuesday :)

raf said...

Exciting indeed, Elaine, made even more so by your bright California sunshine.
Loose and free is good! :)

USelaine said...

Abraham - They ask us to bag our trash too. I guess it keeps it from blowing out of the landfills.

JM - I knew the Europeans would appreciate that. 6^)

Babzy - Everybody is thinking more seriously about it these days. Americans need to buy fewer pre-packaged items - we throw out so much packaging material that just makes products look "pretty".

Dina - If I knew the guy, I'd tell him you think his butt is organized.

Halcyon - Public pressure helps. You could call your public officials and ask them what their plans are for more extensive materials. We have battery drop off at this pictured facility, but they aren't part of our curbside pick up. The Hungarian town I lived in about ten years ago had elementary school deposit containers for household batteries. They were way ahead of Willits for a long time.

Kym - My mom is in the same situation. When I was a really little kid, my grandfather used to dump the trash down a particularly steep embankment on the far end of his property. Nowadays, a definite no-no! (But archeologists might find it interesting someday.)

Sara - Hi! They pick up ours on Wednesdays - one truck for recycling, another for trash.

Raf - Skin-tight just isn't the American Way, at least for anyone except teen-aged girls.

Thanks for re-cycling through, everyone!