Recycle?

I was cleaning the house when I came across this pile of shopping bags and I do not know what to do with it.

 

There are hell lots of bags which I could classify a few:-

• The conventional ‘garbage plastic bag’ I called it.

 

You could happily use these to line your rubbish bin. We used to have the urge to grab more from hypermarket ever since they implemented the ‘self service grocery packing’ system. It was not long that we noticed some plastics bag are biodegrable and there is no point to grab more than you needed. That thing just got flaky by itself and scared the hell out of you.



•  Paper bags that you will never reject especially when you are shopping at specialty stores.

•  The honorary Recycle Bag. Oh yes, there are hell lot of them  and you are tempted to get more for the sake of ‘recycling’

 

 

I am not an environmentalist.

I do not carry my own recycle bag while going for grocery shopping. But I am definitely not paying for the ‘garbage plastic bag’ if it happens to be a Saturday go-green day. I will stuffed everything into my handbag (my brother called it the bag-from-the-drain anyway). Or if the grocery is too huge or heavy, I’ll just drop it to the car before continue shopping.

I do not separate my garbage into recyclable material. Well, I am not even sure if the garbage collector does that for me either. But if they do, then please take the ‘profit’ from selling that recyclable item as a small gesture of appreciation.

 I am one of those shoppers who wish the cashier would give me a paper bag instead of plastic bag because I think I had spend enough to gain myself the ‘reputation’. However, I would appreciate if they would offer me a recycle bag instead because that made me felt a bit better to be part of the ‘green’ (Which in fact not so)

I am definitely not falling into one of those marketing gimmick of buying more for a free recycle bag. But I would not reject one if they are giving it for free. Especially in company event or some big scale event like marathon. Mostly they are low quality recycle bags used as goody bag and you’ll need one to be part of the event kind of thing.

I am not sure why am I posting something so serious on my blog. All I know is that deep down inside me, I felt the anger and frustration. I am feeling bad for the being part of the irresponsible generation. Well….maybe not so much because that is not perceived as wrong in the society anyway.

It is not so much of the problem of disposing the unused bags; it’s more of a matter of exhausting our natural resources to create something that may not be necessary. Heats are unnecessary created in the manufacturing process. I had never been to the poles nor do I love the polar bears a lot. I am unsure how bad rising temperature will wallop the habitat of these creatures or how fast Venice will be sinking What I can feel these days is that it is almost impossible to stay direct under the sun in the afternoon or you risk getting a sun burn. Is that the effect of rising temperature or is just me?

Residual of unwanted materials are created, sometimes with poisoning content to the soil, water and worst still “air”. We created so much of unnecessary stuffs but in the end what we really care is how to get rid of them. Some need to be burn away, creating more heat to the earth. Some bags just left there suffocating the earth, hoping that one day it will turn to petroleum. Some are very proud because they are being recycled but more energy and resources are consumed in the process.

Well, the whole lot of story just doesn’t seem right to me. People are being painted with the wrong impression that by using recycle bags they are indeed doing some good deed to the earth. Yes you are, provided that the same old recycle bag is utilized until it fails you. More and more recycle bags are created and people tend to get more of them. Well, most probably because it is free. Most of the time, they are of low quality, the size is not friendly, it’s not your favorite colour but you grab it because it is free, it’s heavy, it cannot be collapse into a tiny wallet, it has a super obvious brand on it and everything you could think of, so you are not going USE IT if not forced to. Well, we can always buy one because there are a lot out there which is much cuter, nicer, lighter, and trendier and you can even choose your favorite colour and pattern. This is what happening and with this kind of mindset, there is never a chance to go-green.

 

My message is simple, to GO – GREEN the cycle should start from :-

REDUCE – Creating only the necessary and reduce wastage.

REUSE – Try to re-use everything you have, creating something new out of something old/unused

RECYCLE – Recycle things that can’t be re-used anymore. This process shall be kept last because it involves consumption of resources.

 

To say is always easier than to execute. I might not be able to influence anybody but whenever I met a person with the wrong perception, I’ll try my best to explain to them. But I guess the biggest challenge is to nurture the habit in myself to “Bring my own recycle bag and stick to it”. Hopefully someone likes my recycle bag and start to follow my ‘Aunty Trend’
(Note : All photos are taken from the internet to save some photo space =P. This blog was written solely as a self reminder of what recycling is all about and not intended to offence any party)