Green Issues

Our benevolent local council began the kerbside collection of recyclable household waste last year. They just collect paper at the moment, but it's a start. Sadly only a few people in our street are currently taking advantage of this service, so I was pleased to see that our neighbours had started to fill their council-supplied recycling crate. Unfortunately they've got a bit confused and have filled it with plastic bottles. The council won't recycle these at all, let alone collect them from your house. They went so far as to produce a report stating that it was uneconomic for them to recycle plastic. It had figures. I'm no maths whizz, but I think that those figures show that it's not economic for them to recycle anything at all, but I guess that it doesn't tick any of the right government boxes or attract any nice government money if you admit that too openly. Economics aside, should I observe good recycling etiquette and let the neighbours know that they've rinsed out all their bottles for nothing?

I probably won't say anything, because they'll work it out soon enough for themselves, but seeing their crate reminded me how fascinating the whole business of recycling can be. People's lives are laid bare on the pavement on collection day. Walking to work in Canterbury after the introduction of clear plastic sacks for mixed recyclable waste was certainly an eye-opener. I would never have guessed how many people living in what I perceived to be a mellow, educated, academic-centred city read the "Daily Mail". The fact that you can't get hold of a copy of "The Guardian" in our village on a Monday (when they publish their media industry supplement) is not such a surprise - it's that kind of place. But anyway, back to recycling. I note with interest that our neighbours use one of those eco-friendly washing detergents. I couldn't quite believe it. My prejudices were exposed. Their consideration for the environment extends beyond recycling into the realms of hardcore green shopping. This doesn't fit in with how I have previously perceived them - loud, country-and-western music loving, motorbike owning, wife-beater-vest wearing types who probably think we're pale and geeky, hippie-like objects of ridicule. Now it turns out that they may care about the environment in a big way. Possibly more than we do. Who'd have thought it?

So that just proves you shouldn't assume anything about anyone... until you've examined their waste, perhaps. It's a brave new world we're entering, as ecological awareness becomes more widespread. I still don't think I'll be brave and tell them they've filled their crate with recyclables that aren't actually recyclable. I will, however, make sure that I continue to carefully screen and arrange the contents of our paper recycling crate, lest it be subject to prying eyes similar to mine. I like to ensure that a copy of "The Sunday Times" is on top (a proper broadsheet paper, none of this compact weekday "Times" lowering of standards) or, failing that, a sheet full of the boyfriend's complex logical calculations, replete with strange algebraic symbols. Being environmentally friendly doesn't make you immune to the anxious scramble to protect your reputation... or indeed outright snobbery :-)