Since I was in Indonesia, I have always known what the meaning of recycling is. But my understanding back then is different than it is currently. Back then, I always saw products from the recycled things mostly in bookstores or stationery, where notebooks are mainly made from recycled paper, some bags and wallets, made from recycled coffee and detergent packages. They are sold mainly in some big shopping malls, from our waste, and being sold again for repurposing. It serves indeed a good purpose. But since I live in Germany, where recycling is part of our daily activities, I realised how basic and important it should be.
Your daily choice, such as where you want to dispose of your waste, plays a much bigger role in terms of saving the environment, in comparison to buying the recycled products. Let me explain. We produce waste from our daily activities, mostly from food packages, hygiene products, old clothes, even electronics. Have you ever wondered where they go if you put them in the same bin? Here we call it Rest Mull, where they will be burned in the end. Hmm.. So, there is supposed to be no problem, right? Well, wrong.
The purpose of recycling is to give these things longer lifespan. By all means, repurposing them again. That’s why if some things can be used again, one should reuse it. It doesn’t matter if the pickle bottle now becomes the raisin storage. One can alternate it as one wishes. Some developed countries and also big companies have taken this regulation seriously and put it into action, where the old packages will be re-use again for the upcoming products. But to do so, they will need our help and cooperation. Separating trash from plastic full of every-possible-thing is a dirty job and it takes a long time. By putting them in the correct bins, we will make it easier for the next step.
Now coming back to the points before, burning everything seems to be like a good idea since it is fast anyway. Not really. Some things like metal from electronic dumps can not be easily burned, and let’s not forget the fact that smoke pollutes the air. Now imagine if you are burning toxic chemicals from the waste and it goes up to the air. It will pollute the environment and the effects in the long term can be potentially damaging to a lot of parties, e.g. us, the land, the water, etc. Therefore, recycling is supposed to be compulsory as a part of our daily habit.
I get it. Not everybody has the chance to be able to recycle their stuff. Even when I was in Poland or Spain, I didn’t get the chance to do it properly, which I hope that it is different right now. Not to mention, back then when I was in my home county, it was even limited, the only thing that I could recycle were only the plastic bottles that we collected and gave it to the less fortunate people, since they can sell it in kilograms to add up their daily income. It is a heartbreaking and sad truth, but also an eye opening moment for me now. Thus, don’t give up, because every little thing counts and every small action can lead to bigger results. I’ve seen creative people upscaling and making their old stuff come back to live again. Just remember, the principle of recycling is repurposing the old stuff and prolonging its life span. From there, the rest is up to you, since creativity is limitless 🙂
@globustrotterin 
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