Ranting about rubbish and recycling

I'll admit, I'm a crotchety, intolerant old witch, but I really cannot understand the thought processes of the residents of White River, with regards to offloading their glass at the glass banks.

We live in a little village, in a beautiful (if off the beaten track) province, in a country where the very basics of existence absorb nearly all attention and resources, leaving little for the 'new essentials' like the environment.

So the collaboration between Consol and the municipality; to dot bottle banks around the town, left me, for one, feeling very warm and fuzzy inside.  At last, a positive step on an issue outside of housing, water, electricity, jobs, education, health....

And it appears that many residents are stepping up to the plate. I often see them at my closest bottle bank, in shiny 4x4 station wagons, bakkies, sleek sedans, offloading.  More warm and fuzzy innards!

I was enraged this morning, after making an embarrassingly large bottle deposit of my own, to see the state of the ground around the bottle bank.

Mr Joe Public, you've read enough about, and applied your mind, to the issue of recycling. 

You felt strongly enough about it to separate and collect your glass waste.  You got into your car, and made the detour / trip to the bottle bank, so that you could do your bit and ensure that your waste is responsibly disposed of.

So pray, explain to me then, why you simply got out of your car, dumped your box and plastic bag filled with bottles next to the bank, returned to your car and drove off?

Just who do you think is going to post your bottles into the bank?  And why is your box filled with cans?  Is the green container, clearly marked GLASS ONLY, confusing to you? 

What makes it worse, is that the waste lying around the container, has encouraged dumping of all sorts of other rubbish.  Like the pile of pap and vleis, chop bones etc.  Someone emptied a heap of ash into a box of bottles and tins left next to the bank, meaning that the whole lot now needs to be sorted, cleaned and separated yet again, or more likely dumped into general garbage.

Crisp packets, cans, fruit peels...the list of rotting and smelly waste at the bottle bank goes on.  Shards of broken glass just add to the aesthetic appeal...

Is this how you run your household cleansing, Mrs Josie Public?  Are dinnerplates, coffee cups and dirty cutlery taken to the sink, and left there to rot?  Bits of paper, packaging, potato peels not binned, just left where they fall? 

Is the final step in the clearing process just ignored and forgotten about?

Well done you, for beginning the recycling process, and caring enough to try and make a difference.

It is, however, incomprehensible to me, that you should go so far, and falter at the last hurdle: gleefully dropping the bottles through the slot, and listening to the satisfying smashing of glass.  Have you ever seen a person hanging about the bank, looking as though they are employed to clean up after you?  No, you haven't, because there isn't one!  Putting your waste into the bin is your task! That is what you went there to do, for goodness sake!

Bottom line, White River residents, is this - if you're going to make a difference, see it all the way through, and do it properly.

The results of your laziness will come back to haunt you.  Someday, someone is going to make enough noise at council about the health hazard and mess at the bottle banks all over town.  Or Consol will tire of trying to separate and clean up, every time their truck arrives to empty the bin.  That is not part of their process, it's costly, and they'll simply call it quits. Eventually, council will instruct Consol to remove the bins, and a recycling project will fail.  In a few years, someone will try and start another recycling project, and receive a firm NO from the powers that be, citing the mess and failure of this, our first town wide attempt.

Nicely done, Joe and Josie Public.