It’s National Recycling Week in the UK and I’ve been tagged by Brits In Bosnia to do my part. I love that although it’s a British event, Emily has decided to go incredibly international and involved California, Italy, Japan and Turkey. Emily has blogged about the challenges of recycling in Bosnia and how Bosnians already re-use out of necessity rather than trying to be green.
Back in the UK, I recycled as much as I could. We had a box for glass, tin and paper and a bin for compost materials. The ridiculous thing was the council didn’t take plastic because they needed to meet certain quotas and these were all set by weight. As plastic is much lighter than glass or tin, they didn’t collect this. Of course, all milk comes in plastic bottles as well as other drinks and we were miles from a recycling center so most people put these bottles in the bin. I was very good and collected them all up and dropped them off in town. The government needs to make sure everyone is recycling as much as they can, not just set unreasonable quotas.
Here on the Balboa Peninsula, as I’ve mentioned before, we’re all crammed into a tiny space. There’s just not enough room for all the different recycling bins. Newport Beach City Council takes everything away and recycles it. Apparently there’s a big conveyor belt which it all gets dumped onto and sorted. I’d like to think this is more productive as they look through the rubbish and take as much as they can and maybe do a better job. Having been trained to place everything into different categories for recycling, it now feels very strange to put everything into one bin.
The other side of this is that we get people constantly going through our bins looking for items to be recycled. It’s heartbreaking. Families spend their weekends rummaging through all the bins collecting cans and bottles. My neighbour gets cross with them and claims they’re stealing from the city. I can’t get cross. If you need to take your family around, including young children, riffling through filthy rubbish bins, take as much as you need. There needs to be a better way to help. I try and separate out my recyclables so that they don’t need to dig through our rubbish, but they still open the bags, just in case there’s something in there. They don’t realize I’ve gone to the trouble of separating it out for them.
So now I need to pledge to do something for National Recycling Week. I’ve been concerned for a while about using chemicals for cleaning. So that’s my pledge. I’m going to use natural cleaning products from now on and even have a go at making my own so that I can use less plastic bottles.
I also need to tag someone for this, I’ve chosen Michaelle from the Adventurous Women Blog. Michaelle’s posts always inspire me to challenge myself to something new, so this time, I’m going to challenge Michaelle instead.
Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to follow the rules below:
1. Visit Recycle Now and make a pledge
2. Write a post sharing the details of your pledge on your own blog
3. Tag another blogger who might also be up for the challenge
4. Come back to this post at The Rubbish Diet and share your pledge with others by placing a link to your pledge in the comment field.
Thank you for tagging me Emily, good luck with your pledge!
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Hi Lorna – thanks so much for joining in. It’s very interesting to hear about how people are hunting through the bins for valuable recyclates. How different to life in the UK. Good luck with your pledge. These days I use fewer cleaning products and now include vinegar and bicarbonate of soda in my routines. I’ve also found a microfibre cloth works great for cleaning windows and glass, as it only needs some water. Thanks again for leaving your link over at the Rubbish Diet. I’ve enjoyed visiting.
Hi Lorna – thanks for taking up the challenge. I loved your post, and have quoted some of it on my most recent post – I hope you don’t mind. Emily. PS – great idea on the cleaning products, good luck with your pledge.
http://britsinbosnia.blogspot.com/2009/06/of-recycling-and-plastic-bags.html
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