Recycling Resolution
Category Home Tips And Tricks
If there is only one new year’s resolution you stick to this year, let it be recycling! Most people think recycling is unnecessary, or too much of a hassle. In reality, the world is reaching a critical saturation point on rubbish as well as exceeding our natural resources, and this is not a problem we can afford to ignore.
Recycling offers a solution to both these problems as well as many others, and it doesn’t need to be much more effort at all when we see the huge benefits our entire climate will reap.
There are companies like Whole Earth Recycling www.wholeearth.co.za that collect your recycling. You rinse and throw all your glass, plastic, tins and ink cartridges into one bag and they collect and sort it for you. The monthly fee is under R90 a month.
Why not give it a try, it may be the the only resolution that you stick to that will make a difference to the overall well being of the planet.
WHY SHOULD I RECYCLE?
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Recycling is essential on so many levels. Firstly, by recycling we avoid chewing up more natural resources - if we were all diligent about recycling paper, for instance, we could more than halve the demands of trees to make new paper. This is not sustainable, nor are the energy demands entailed in producing it.
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Secondly, whatever is not recycled lands up in landfills. The biggest landfill in the world is Puente Hills, Los Angeles, standing over 700 acres and towering almost 500 feet high. It takes in 12,000 tons of garbage a day and currently holds 3.7 million tons of pure garbage - different kinds of plastic can degrade at different rates, but the average time for a plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years, up to 1000 years. All the while we would be making MORE bottles and continuing to fill up liveable land with rubbish.
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Thirdly, for the above reasons, it encourages more conscious green living in yourself and your families, and keeping it clean it just good karma! Show your children the results of not recycling - landfills, deforestation, and the effects on wildlife are a small start, and make it very obvious why we need to commit to this cause.
HOW CAN I START?
-Many areas have disadvantages people that sort through refuse which they then take to recycling plants for a nominal fee - consider offering them a weekly payment, perhaps between yourselves and neighbours - to take yours consistently.
-To aid them, keep separate rubbish bins with different coloured bags in the kitchen; one for paper, one for plastic, one for glass. Some plastic shops even sell an all-in-one bin with divisions for each. Teach your kids from a young age to use appropriate bins.
-If you don’t have local enterprising recyclers, sorting your rubbish makes it easy to drop it off yourself at a local depot. Most schools have one, and often kids earn merit points for contributing!
-If this sounds like too much work, there are many local companies offering recycling duties at affordable rates. All you need to do is put all recyclable materials in one specially marked bag (usually provided by the company), and they will come weekly to collect them outside your home or complex.
-If you live in a cluster or complex, why not get the body corporate involved? It can become a social movement - visit www.letsdoitworld.org to join the first World Cleanup Day.
Countries like Switzerland have enforced recycling to the point that a staggering 52% of their waste is rehabilitated; many European countries have gone one step further and converted it to cover energy demands. With no end to waste production (as opposed to our ever-diminishing coal and gas reserves) this is a far better and cleaner solution to an impending energy crisis. Every person converted can make a difference, so let your resolution be to join the revolution!
Contacts Homes of Distinction if you are looking to Buy or Sell your property. We specialise in residential property in Bryanston, Kyalami, Craighall, Athol and more.
www.homesofdistinction.co.za
Author: Georgina Roberts
