going green

this wasnt inspired by the go green movement thats been in the news recently, but ever since we've moved to cg we've been separating the plastic bottles from the glass ones from the paper carton boxes from the metal cans from the rest of the rubbish in our kitchen trashbag - our very small contribution to making this world of ours last that little bit longer

(sidenote: i find this a bit hard to reconcile initially cos we all know that dunia akan kiamat eventually so why go thru all that trouble to stop the inevitable? and then i realised that just because something's inevitable doesnt mean that you cant do anything to make your life and the life of others better. it's just like dying - we all know we'll die someday but that doesnt mean we go around trying to kill ourselves. hmmm ok my attempt at explaining's not going anywhere. back to topic..)

it helps that the recycling bins are close by. every once in a while we'll trudge down to the bins wif the various things and the pile of newspapers, and we'll often get curious stares from patrons of the food centre beside which the bins are located. and very often we'll find the bins empty. either the recycling companies have been very diligent in clearing the bins, or people have not been making use of the bins.

IF people have not been making use of the bins, i can understand why. it's really no easy feat separating your trash. as i'm writing this, there are 4 empty coke bottles, 2 olive oil glass bottles, 1 orange juice carton, 1 milk carton and 1 pasta glass jar waiting to be disposed. they're all sitting 'nicely' beside my waste bin, and they make an unsightly mess. there are times when im tempted to just dump them in the bin, and i've done that on a couple of occassions. so, recycling is hard work.

a japanese friend we know was happily showing off her rubbish chute when we went for her housewarming. this rubbish chute is similar to the ones found in hdb flats, you know, the ones wif the small door covering a hole that leads straight down the chute. "you just open the door and throw yr rubbish!" she said gleefully, demonstrating this by throwing a piece of tissue paper down the chute. and i tell you, she was deliriously, positively, happy about it.

it was all very amusing, but we couldnt understand why. then she explained that back in japan, they had to separate their rubbish (it's a law or something). in fact, the rubbish collectors would even refuse to collect your rubbish if it's not separated. which was why she was soo happy wif the rubbish chute - throwing rubbish wont be such a chore anymore!

maybe rubbish throwing has been made too easy for us singaporeans. perhaps if we had been MADE to separate our rubbish, it'd be second nature to us and we wouldnt think twice about recycling.

we'll continue wif our 'hard' work. hopefully it'll be second nature to us some day.