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Why won't people recycle?!?!
Started
by Sarah Noel
on May 12, 2010
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but would like some advice on what to do, or how you guys handle this. I'm VERY into being environmentally-conscious, as I'm sure many people on here are too. The town I live in has a recycling program, that we're all required to pay for, whether we participate or not. They drop off the bins at our house, we fill them up, and set them out at the curb every other week for pick-up. Well, we just got new bins that are about 4' tall, on wheels, with a lid. They kinda stand out, and are large (95 gallons I believe), so people are complaining that they're too big to store, and they're too much of a hassle to put out. Apparently several residents have called and complained and gotten their individual bins picked back up by the company, so they don't participate at all. (We used to have the smaller, more common orange bins). I read our little town newspaper every week and almost every time there are letters to the editor complaining about these new bins, and some people refuse to recycle now, either b/c they can't handle the big bins (understandable for the elderly citizens) or they simply don't like them, so they refuse. This infuriates me! I've thought about writing my own letter to the editor, of our town newspaper, but don't know what difference it would make. I can't stand to see people not care about the environment and not recycle. It's SO easy! Especially when the bins are provided and picked up at our houses!!!! I just don't get it. How can some people not care about their actions? Either they don't see the long-term effects or (more likely) they just don't care. It really makes me upset. Any suggestions on how to deal?
I would say write a letter to the editor as you mentioned because hopefully most of your neighbors read this newspaper as well. If they have lids and wheels they shouldn't be too much to handle unless the neighbors are elderly or handicapped. In that case, you would hope other neighbors would help them. It all comes down to the fact that they don't care because it doesn't affect them. The trash has not started accumulating in their backyard (yet!) so they see no problem with not recycling. Everyone knows about recycling and about our massive amounts of trash, but many still don't care because they don't have to look at it. It is someone else's problem. I think this is outrageous especially because your community is making it so easy for people to do. Good luck.
Thanks. I just posted a response on the community's website forum. Still debating on the letter. It just feels futile sometimes. There have been probably 8 negative letters, and 1 positive, regarding my community's recycling. It's just so very frustrating to me. You're totally right - since people don't feel affected, personally, they don't feel inclined to change their ways. They don't see the bigger picture. Or simply don't care, which annoys the crap out of me.
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