The 3 R's

Jack Johnson has a fun song from the Curious George cd that we listen to in the car...The 3 R's...Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And even though I like to sing along I am one of those Americans who even when the city of Minneapolis provided me with a green recycle bin and the trash truck picked it up for free I still did not take the time to sort out my trash and felt no guilt about it. (slap on the wrist)

Being here in India has shown me alot about the 3 R's. I think I'm a changed woman and someday if I ever have a green bin to fill I will do it, but for now recycling is made soooooo easy for me. There is always someone who will take your leftovers, rotten bananas, stained clothes, broken toys... in a heartbeat. I really have no excuse to waste A THING because my housekeeper will take anything (except long grain rice--she eats short grain only so i'm thinking there's some religious rules involved in that one:) She even keeps all the boxes, cardboard, plastic and glass in a pile and once a month takes it home. I think she must turn it in for money. So no driving to Goodwill or whincing as I throw out a full leftover meal into the garbage disposal like I did in the states. I have seen people digging in the trash on the side of the road eating food out of baggies. It's very motivating when people right outside are in need. I do wash ziplocs here--yes--only because i get them twice a year on my U.S. trips and my stash is not very big:) I wish it was b/c i'm trying to save the world from non-degradable plastic waste but my reasons are selfish:) Toys and books go to our housekeeper and our church nursery. And I think I am almost on the verge of bringing my own re-usable bags to take home the groceries except that I reuse those plastic bags to line the trash can...hmmmm...plastic grocery bags or buy plastic trash bags? Tough call. No paper bag options here.

And what's amazing, for all the trash that is out on the streets here, I really do see an effort being made to sort out trash which I'm assuming is for recycling purposes. I even see the trashmen inside the bed of the truck going thru the trash to sort it out--or maybe they are looking for treasures? Now that is a DIRTY job! I'm told that the cleaning ladies at our complex go thru the garbage each morning (we put our trash outside the door in the AM) first to find things to keep for themselves then to seperate cardboard for the complex. I do hear them rustling thru the bags and wonder "how much in need do you have to be to dig through the trash?". We see children digging through the trash pile behind our complex. I really can't imagine it.

So I'm sold...I'm a 3R girl now. Dare I say, even if I have to drive to a recycling center someday to drop off my glass, plastic and paper I will use my memories of India to motivate me. Please hold me to it!!!