It's Not Easy Being Green
I came a little late to the recycling game. I didn't mean to, though. I really didn't. When we moved here 12 years ago, the sanitation company assured me that all the sorting was done at the plant. So I thought we were good. A few years into this trash/recycling plan, I got a little worried, so I called again. Yes, said the nice sanitation lady, I didn't have to do a thing. Indeed, all the recycling was sorted at the plant. Wow. I settled back, but even I had to admit it sounded to good to be true. I explained it every time my parents visited and they didn't want to throw away a can or a bottle. I worried every Sunday night when I saw blue bins start to appear a few years ago next to people's trash cans. So I called. Last week.
"We'll get you a bin today," said the gentleman on the phone. "Put the plastics and cans in that, and keep the paper stuff separate." (I know he was thinking, "Sure, we'll get you a bin, Lady, last person on Earth to recycle.") I told him what I thought I had known. He said, "Well, let's just get that bin out there." So I really don't know the truth. And I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Could I have misunderstood "sorted out at the plant?" Sorted out of the bins? The bin I NEVER HAD?
"We're recycling!" yelled my daughter when she saw the bin. "I can't wait to tell my teacher that we started recycling!"
"No!" I accidentally shouted. "Don't say that! That's silly. Just say how much you love recycling." That's right. You heard me. I told the child to lie.
All around me the world is green, and I thought I was doing my part. Stella McCartney makes Earth-friendly make-up bags, Gwyneth Paltrow feeds her children only organic oats, Oprah has rid Harpo studios of all paper cups. And on the very day that I drop my first water bottle into my blue bin, I hear Cameron Diaz say that Americans go through 2 million water bottles a day. A day. I don't like the look of that bottle in my bin. So I will buy my reusable water bottle tomorrow, and we will be more careful about both our trash and our recyclables. Because Cameron Diaz, you've got nothing on me. Well, not anymore
"We'll get you a bin today," said the gentleman on the phone. "Put the plastics and cans in that, and keep the paper stuff separate." (I know he was thinking, "Sure, we'll get you a bin, Lady, last person on Earth to recycle.") I told him what I thought I had known. He said, "Well, let's just get that bin out there." So I really don't know the truth. And I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Could I have misunderstood "sorted out at the plant?" Sorted out of the bins? The bin I NEVER HAD?
"We're recycling!" yelled my daughter when she saw the bin. "I can't wait to tell my teacher that we started recycling!"
"No!" I accidentally shouted. "Don't say that! That's silly. Just say how much you love recycling." That's right. You heard me. I told the child to lie.
All around me the world is green, and I thought I was doing my part. Stella McCartney makes Earth-friendly make-up bags, Gwyneth Paltrow feeds her children only organic oats, Oprah has rid Harpo studios of all paper cups. And on the very day that I drop my first water bottle into my blue bin, I hear Cameron Diaz say that Americans go through 2 million water bottles a day. A day. I don't like the look of that bottle in my bin. So I will buy my reusable water bottle tomorrow, and we will be more careful about both our trash and our recyclables. Because Cameron Diaz, you've got nothing on me. Well, not anymore
Comments