Recycling Fatigue

We can never be tired of recycling as long as we prefer canned tomatoes and peas to fresh ones, canned soup over home-made or pump bottle soap over a bar of soap. We also use olive oil so bottles must be recycled. In fact, as long as we go to the store, we must recycle.

Recycling fatigue visits me some time and it comes from the question: Do I have to recycle this? This means I’m questioning a recycling regime that used to work. 

Practically everything we buy is packaged or carried in plastic bags, making it difficult to decide what should be recycled what should be regarded as total waste.  I saw toilet roll holders in a plastic bag the last time I dropped items in the blue bin, which means the concerned citizen keeps them when the bathroom tissue is finished, to recycle later. 

We never do what can be called ‘green shopping.’  If we did, we would come home with only bunches of carrots and organic tomatoes, because supermarkets or grocery stores provide plastic bags for tomatoes, chilies, sweet potatoes, broccoli or whatever vegetables we need to prepare dinner. 

I should refuse the plastic bags because the code for the cauliflower price is in the orange sticker but I never do.  The plastic makes it easier to pack vegetables in the grocery bag I pull around.  How about bulk shopping? Six packs of bagels and croissants come in plastic trays, so does bulk chicken, meat or seafood.

Grocery shopping is to replenish food items kept in the pantry, freezer and refrigerator.  We also buy things to keep body and hair healthy. Shopping to protect rivers, oceans and the land has never been a priority.  It is even debatable if advocates of the green movement practise what they preach and buy soap wrapped in paper and not shampoo and conditioner plastic bottles with pumps.

Recycling education is everywhere so we cannot feign ignorance. The city’s blue recycling bins are in every corner. It also keeps recycling alive with interesting bus shelter and online advertising.

What is missing is goodwill and focus. Where there’s a will, there’s a will. I guess recycling fatigue kicks in when the will wanes.  Just a little commitment from everybody will make a sea of difference. Some footwear and clothing stores are doing their recycling bit with nice bags that can be re-used as storage or grocery bags. 

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.