Reduce-Reuse-Recycle' is the hot catch phrase in today's world and every other day, we read articles on how we can save our planet by 'going green'.
However, it wasn't until I consciously started applying the phrase that I began to understand its significance.
Last month after my letter on recycling initiatives was published (and answered by the editor) in the GDN, I decided to sort my daily trash into four large bags - one each for metal, glass, paper and plastic products - and dump them when full into recycling bins set up all over Bahrain by Universal Projects Inc.
I knew I would have lots of paper trash, thanks to the GDN and the dozen or so glossy magazines and weeklies that come free along with it, but little did I think of the other kinds of recyclable trash I was collecting each day, so I figured it would be a couple of months at least before the bags would fill up.
As I started sorting and collecting, I realised that on an average day, my 'trash treasure' included:
Plastic in the form of curd cups, milk/laban/juice bottles, disposable spoons in lunch boxes, packets of cereals, flour, pulses, noodles, pasta, spices and any other packaged product bought off the supermarket shelves, fruit/vegetable containers and covers such as those used for cherries, strawberries and mushrooms, tubes of toothpaste, hair gel, shampoo bottles, restaurant takeaway containers, shopping bags, mineral water bottles, toys, used toothbrushes, used telephone cards and pens.
Metal in the form of evaporated milk cans, soft drink, milk powder and tinned food cans, and foil products, including takeaway foil containers, laundry hangers and batteries.
Paper from bills, flyers, newspapers and magazines, hot and cold cereal and tea boxes, toy and tissue boxes, toilet paper/foil/cling film rolls and cardboard boxes from gadgets, including mobile phones, printers/scanners/photocopiers, flour packets, juice and long-life milk boxes.
Glass from empty jam/coffee/sauce bottles and broken glass items.
And this is just a sample!
With just two adult members in the family and a four-year-old, it was an eye-opening, shocking experience to have to 'collect' so many items each day and sort them into their bags.
I now realise we humans make a lot of trash each day. If every family consciously decides to reduce and reuse what they have and take the time out to sort their trash, it can be effectively recycled. And all it takes is less than five to 10 minutes each day!
In the past, this used to happen automatically. However, these days, it is a habit that has to be consciously acquired.
So wake up to the fact that there is no option but to 'go green', if we wish to further stop polluting the planet and save it for our children.
Happy recycling!
Lisha
