Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details.A recyclable kind of guy By J. G. Fabiano I've always considered myself a green kind of guy. During my youth in the 1960's I never threw my clothes away because I wore them until there was little to throw away. I tried not to buy drinks and food that were contained in non-degradable products because I could never afford them. I also never tossed anything out my car window because I never had a car. Needless to say I was ahead of my time. Years past and I am proud to say I've continued my quest to not fill up my world with garbage. I was thrilled when my town decided to institute a recycling program. In fact, I was one of the first to buy a blue plastic container advertising the emblem of recycling showing an arrow that never arrived. The basic problem with the container was its small size. So, I decided to buy a couple more because now that I was older; I was also bigger thus making my carbon footprint a bit more intense. When the program was introduced it was simple to do what was required. The recycling people asked me to put all my paper products in one bin and the cans and bottles in a second. The third was used basically as an overflow from when I ate and drank a bit too much. In fact, my neighborhood had a challenge as to whose bin would make the most noise when it was being picked up and dumped into the recycling truck. Needless to say I am the New England Patriots of my neighborhood. Like everything in this world where there is good there is also not so good. In fact, there is some down right evil. I clearly understand the importance of recycling but I now know there are some major disadvantages attached to it. During the summer months there is nothing quite like the smell of souring food not cleaned from the cans and bottles that ended up in the recycling bins? In fact, one could tell the time of the week by how bad one's garage smelled. There are also new forms of life that developed from my recycling bins. They mutated to the point of forming an armor few pesticides can penetrate. In fact, I tried to stamp out a few of them only to discover they had the capacity to turn what I think is their heads and ask, "Is this all you got?" Well, they haven't learned to talk yet but I know this is exactly what they are thinking. I also wonder what is in our food because if it is able to mutate insects what must it be doing to us. Recycling in the winter is no great joy either. Living on the coast I am not able to put my recycling bins out during the night because most of the contents would be blown into my neighbor's yards. So, before I go to work I have to lug them out to the corner. This would not be too difficult a task if I organized the stuff the day before. I always tell myself to do this but it never gets done. Maybe this memory loss has something to do with what I eat. Every morning at about 5:30 I find myself separating cans from bottles and attempting to peal away the newspapers and other paper products that have froze onto those same cans and bottles. This is not an easy task especially when one doesn't have a heated garage and the temperature inside is colder than the temperature on the outside. There is nothing more painful than cutting oneself with the top of a tuna can when one's fingers are just about to go from numb to sting. There must be something in old tuna juice that acts like the perfect acid promising to burn for at least a day and a half. I've ruined more pants and shirts carrying the recycling bins to the curb than all my other accidents put together. During the winter I have no clue as to how any liquid could not be frozen but I should assume the freezing point of old food is especially low so the insects that live in the bins can feed upon it all year long. At least I hope it is the liquid from the food. There is also no detergent yet invented that can take the stain caused by this recycling liquid out of any piece of cloth known to mankind. Now don't get me wrong. I sincerely believe recycling is an important part of all of our futures. I guess I will just have to learn to eat out more and wear my clothes as long as possible. The End.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
