http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-recycle-at-home-but-not-when-you-are-out.html
Why Recycle At Home But Not When You Are Out?
I took my daughters to the park the other day since it was nice out and they had a bit of energy that needed sapping. As they ran around on the play area I sat and watched people going by, something I must admit I enjoy doing from time to time. Now I don’t know if it was my heightened sensitivity due to last year’s garbage hoarding, or a jackpot time to be there, but I was fairly shocked at what I noticed.
All around me people were throwing plastic water bottles and soda bottles into the garbage. I’m not naive, I recognize that this happens all the time, but what shocked me was who was doing it. I’m the first to say that you can’t judge people by how they look, but when the guy with the “Save the Rainforest” hat and the lady with the “Recycle” shirt (I kid you not and no, they were not together) are throwing plastic in the trash, it makes you think.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these two, among others (including a few people I knew personally, who were there) would have recycled their bottles had there been a bin or had they been at home where a bin was accessible. And yet, they didn’t seem to think twice about throwing their bottles “away.” Why?
I’m afraid the answer is the same that lies at the heart of most of the problems at hand–convenience. It’s inconvenient to bring the bottle home with them and then dispose of it, and much more convenient to chuck it in the garbage where they are. I can see that as plain as anyone else can. I guess what gets me is that no one forced them to bring a plastic water bottle to begin with, it was their choice. And yet, they don’t feel a responsibility to deal with their choices once the choice to deal with them becomes an inconvenience.
The bottom line of all this is this. We should all be trying to do our best by recycling and using less in the first place, but that should extend beyond our immediate homestead and out into our lives as a whole.
Why recycle at home but not do so when away from home? Is it less important? Do we get a time out?
Why refuse to bring Styrofoam into your house and then use it at the office? Is it less damaging to the environment?
And why hang at the park with your kids and chuck a plastic water bottle in the trash, when you would have most likely recycled it were you at home?
It just doesn’t make sense.
There are no time outs in the battle to clean up our bad habits and we must all make a stronger effort to walk the walk no matter where we are. We would all be better off to not use these products in the first place, but should we make the choice to do so, we must accept the responsibility to deal with them accordingly. After all, a backpack full of empty bottles may be an inconvenience, but the alternative is much worse.
Dave Chameides is a filmmaker and environmental educator. His website and newsletter are designed to inspire thought and dialogue on environmental solutions and revolve around the idea that no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. “Give people the facts, and they’ll choose to do the right thing.”
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47 comments
add your comment »I agree it's not as hard as it sounds to just take the bottle home! I have on nurmous occasions kept the bottle I was using and recycled it at home. I've even gone so far as to take bottles and cans from company meetings home to recycle because I can't stand the thought if bottles and cans in the trash. That might be extreme but I'm working on making our Company as a whole "green". Not an easy task but someone has to do it! Now my husband and I take our reuseable bottles wherever we go. It's easier for one and we don't have to worry about throwing anything away. Plus it's more economical and healthy for the both of us.
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His site redirects to:
http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/
I'm always sad to see there is so many plastic bottles and cans thrown away but here in Sweden you get a small amount if you recycle them. So I collect them whenever I find one or two and then I get small money which I can use for stamps and similar things. :-)
I try to recycle as much as possible but also try not to be too fanatic about it. Just so it doesn't turn into an obsession.
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What shocks me even more are the parks around me that offer recycling bins - sitting right next to the garbage bins!- and people still don't recycle!! How much easier can it get! I have also spent many a morning walking the dog around the park, picking up countless plastic bottles left by people playing sports. I would get so angry that I had to stop. It blows my mind how lazy and ignorant people can be!
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Green tips kids can do too.
http://www.tonic.com/news/article/never-judge-a-heart-by-the-size-of-the-body/
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I agree with this article. Whenever my fiance and I are out, we always bring a cloth bag with us to put bottles in and such. We went on a trip recently and on the way home, I had bottles in my bacpack that were empty. A guy in our hotel saw the bottles and asked if I still needed them because they were empty? I said that I did because I was taking them home with me a few hundred miles away, to recycle. I think that made him think a little bit. A lot of people seem to think it's strange since both of us are blind and we carry our canes with us, plus bottles around with us if we use them or buy one and then get rid of it at home. I pick up cans/bottles/glass wherever I find them on the sidewalks as well.
Take Care,
Dawnielle
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your sentiments exactly,, yes , exactly
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Thank-you! My sentiments exactly. The worst is at the gym, I think. I have to go daily for back therapy, and never leave without a minimum of 20 bottles in my gym bag. I could easily grab more out of the trash, but that is all I can carry. I always mean to bring a 2nd bag, just for recycle, but forget.
Yes, I have been called a "trash digger" on several occasions, but don't care. I think our planet's health is far more important than someone's opinion of me.
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I am always frustrated when traveling and saying in hotels... there are at least three trash cans in every hotel room it seems. Why can't they add one small recycling one?
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Hey, dAve, any tips on how to carry out Annette's idea here in the States? Who does one contact about getting recycling bins into parks, forest preserves, and picnic areas? Places like this already have trash cans, how hard could it be?
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BTW, Dave, I LOVE your blog!
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