The Trash Collector

Our streets are certainly not the cleanest in the world, and certainly not as clean as they used to be. In fact they are downright disgusting with more resemblance to a communal rubbish tip than a place to stroll along. People scurry along streets, nobody stops for a chat like they used to. Kids no longer play and well, street cleaners are now models in waxwork museums whilst everybody else scurries indoors like frightened rats in a sewer.

The Rubbish Collection Service, the bin men, garbage/trash collectors, street cleaners, rubbish men (ladies) call them what you may certainly struggle on with an array of plastic bags, cracked bins, "wheely" bins, boxes and cartons that they have to lift up and pour into their yellow, green or black (dirty) trucks. Little delicate alien-like machines float around with brushes on the front and when they break down they disappear for another year whilst the broken glass shards and the endless twisted plastic deposits are faithfully untwined from their internals. The men and woman of the rubbish brigade certainly plod faithfully on collecting peoples deposits against all odds. The councils refuse to issue plastic bags that are strong enough to hold rubbish, they refuse to pay and support the industry with cash, and they show no incentive to rubbish throwers to separate or deposit recyclable goods in an effective manner.

Rubbish Bins by a disgruntled rubbish producer

I pulled the flimsy plastic bag as hard as I could and still the heavy squashed mass of my waste would not budge from the 100ltr rectangular bin that it was stuck inside. I eventually managed to pull it out by squashing my knees against the bins sides, nearly bursting a blood vessel as I tugged upwards.

Anybody catching sight of me would have assumed a number of things about my rubbish and I and all assumptions would have been totally incorrect.

1. That I had poured super glue into the bin before attempting to pull the plastic bag out.
2. That I had not emptied the bin for over a year.
3. That I was performing a voodoo ritual to relieve my trash of the devil.

In actual fact I had only just emptied that same bin three days ago (with the same removal problem then) and the results had accumulated from three days of just living a normal life.

Being unable to recycle paper, plastics and bottles (having no car to get the nearest recycle centre three miles away), my bin bears the brunt of Sunday newspapers, large plastic bottles, milk cartons and endless wrappings that adorn every product bought.

Wrappings are a very annoying feature of the world that we live in today. Every single product from the supermarket shelves comes wrapped like a Christmas present; one of those joke ones that just keeps on getting smaller. A tube of toothpaste for example initially arrives at the warehouse wrapped in cling film that typically prevents boxes falling off the back of a truck. The cling film is removed; the boxes are distributed to the shops. The boxes are removed, the packets of twelve are unwrapped and then eventually the individual tubes of toothpaste are shelved. The toothpaste is bought and the plastic wrapping is removed and then the cardboard box is removed so that the little tube of toothpaste eventually gets to see daylight to the usual ultimate disappointment of the 'unwrapper' who expected more.. The question must be asked: are all of these wrappings necessary? Certainly each one must have its own duty or purpose in life but for filling rubbish bins they certainly do a wonderful task. Wrappings and covers are something that modern day life has brought to us. Protection and sealing are so very important and the very thought of taking an already used shopping bag and a pre-washed bottle with cap along to the grocers to get him to top up from the urn is, well, "history". But simply by not doing this we are producing plastic waste and garbage at an ever increasing pace, one that overflows onto our streets and that we can just not keep up with.

Recycling projects are small, few and far between and mostly not financially viable. Many years ago trucks used to float around collecting newspapers but that was a long time ago. One gentleman from London recently gave his thoughts on separating his rubbish out. He said "that's not my job, I didn't make it". And there lies one of the major problems with the apparent non-success of recycling projects. The average person is not taking responsibility for their own rubbish, and if the individual is not going to take charge then who can?

Government initiatives spring up every so often: glass (green or white), plastic, and newspaper banks that look like large storage jars colourfully arise in Supermarket car parks. Adverts telling consumers to separate and be ecologically friendly work their way to sitting rooms to be discarded along with the rest of the day's junk mail. The initiatives are not backed up with practicality and education, with thought or much needed cash!

A bottle bank three miles away from a person's house, especially where the owner is not a driver is unpractical - the very idea of anybody lugging three days worth of bottles, newspapers and plastic onto a bus is totally outrageous. Even those with cars may not go to a supermarket with a bottle bank and must thus need to make a special journey or they only go once a week. So storage areas in houses and gardens to keep one weeks worth of bottles and plastic waste - thus creating a hazardous rat infested personal dump site that just gets worse with time.

Education is certainly remiss. Children walking along streets increasingly add to the waste that they wade through. Car parks are filled with the remains of food waste, plastic bags, emptied ashtrays and broken glass from parked cars. Even sacred mountains, parks and conservation areas are not without a faithful crisp packet fluttering along, a coke can nestling amongst the gorse or a discarded shoe or two lying unclaimed by all.

What causes humans to treat their very own planet like this? Parents themselves might not be good examples to their children but it is governments who should instil in children the correctness of recycling, not to use the street as a general rubbish bin and to respect the fragile world that is around them.

Answers are not easy to come by but certain countries have made greater inroads and larger efforts towards a cleaner environment than others have. Germany for example has made great strides in awareness and practical recycling projects. Goods on the supermarket shelves are clearly marked with a "Grune Punkt" (green mark) that clearly advertises to the prospective buyer that a certain products wrapping is recyclable. And outside every house are the bins that take all of the separated recyclable goods - no need to walk miles!

But at the very end of the day it is up to the government through education or social awareness to make our streets and cities cleaner. Certainly less wrapping would do for a start but if every person could become responsible for the rubbish that they make then a good start has been made.

Taiwan operates rubbish collection in a different way than most other nations. A person's rubbish is their responsibility until it is in the internals of the rubbish truck, not once it lies on the street but inside the truck. Every person must take their rubbish from their house and throw it into the back of the truck as it stops at predetermined points along the way. Every day and at the same time a truck playing a loud yet familiar tune (like that of the ice-cream van back home) will float past every house within 200meters. In fact two trucks will drive along, the first for general waste and the second for glass bottles, plastic bottles, paper, etc. So not only are they providing a convenient recycling operation but also providing it daily. And should the trucks be missed then there will invariably be another arriving around the corner or in another street close by within the next hour or so - just listen out for the tune.

But Taiwan has gone further than this. The government recently banned supermarkets and stores from issuing the endless plastic bags that are so familiar in western nations. Customers must now bring their own bags or buy one. Department stores give out free bags in their supermarkets but they are all made of paper. Restaurants and hotels are no longer allowed to use paper plates, disposable chopsticks or cutlery - everything must be re-usable (washable).

Of course as do many other countries Taiwan is not even denting the amount of garbage that makes its way to streets and into skips, tips and oceans. But they are making a start and it is a far larger one than the first world nations of America and Europe (Britain) are doing. At least by starting small an education process is in hand, instead of a process whereby apathy and the making of big bucks invariably controls all else.

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby July 2004, All Rights Reserved