First Week.
During this week, I have noticed that my trashcan contains a lot of plastic waste. In my family, most of the time we try to classify the garbage and put the plastic bottles or containers in a trashcan, so they can be recycled. However, I noticed that in another trashcan there were small plastic debris, such as small sleeves and wrappers. This made me think that having a recycling habit is very good, however, there are thousands of waste that we generate and that only a part of it is “recycled”. We may help the environment by recycling, but we do not stop the consumption habits of products that pollute the environment.
In the same way, I thought that the idea of where the waste ends up had never crossed my mind. I thought only to the point of recycling and letting the collectors take the classified garbage away, but I didn’t analyze where it was going to end up next, and worse still, where it came from.
I investigated for the first time where the waste in my city goes and I learned that it reaches the Chachoán landfill in Izamba. But I didn’t find any more information from that. I believe that being informed of our actions and consequences is our duty. And if the garbage reaches the seas and oceans, our misinformation and little interest in the environment is costing the lives of millions of birds and marine species.
Let’s think that even though some packaging and wrapping are really useful and cheap, once we use them, we forget to worry about where they will stay. Plastic is responsible for the pollution of seas and oceans. Although it decomposes, its microplastic fragments kill millions of birds and marine species.
Second week:
During this week, some changes have been made in my house, and despite the fact that we try to have the garbage constantly recycled, due to the rush and the focus on finishing the house again, the idea of sorting the garbage has passed through high. With this, I have realized that recycling is taken as an action without much importance, and which is ignored if it is related to our comfort.
Based on that, and the fact of recycling only large things, leaving aside small objects that seem to have no impact, I have realized that we should become aware and understand that helping the planet should not be taken as a duty, but an aspect that should be part of our lives as human beings, without having to represent an obligation. We must take recycling as an action to live, that no matter how tired you are, or how far a garbage can is, you need to comply with it even though it seems insignificant.
With actions such as recycling at home, although they may be a small step, they represent a beginning. With this same idea, during these weeks I have realized that just as my action is short and with time it will represent a great impact, in the same way, a small garbage can represent a great damage to the environment.
And we must not only be satisfied with the action of recycling. As mentioned in the text “Ethical Blindness” we have made recycling an immediate action to use and discard. We are related to garbage, just by the act of finishing using something and throwing away what seems to be no server. As I mentioned earlier, most of us don’t even know where our waste is going, nor if the actions we try to change in our routine are actually having the impact we hope for.
We should investigate about these processes, the people involved, the impact, and in addition to that, become aware of what we consume, ask ourselves if a plastic cover is really necessary to bring a product to our home, and if yes, with what could replace it.
It is clear that some products will not stop being produced because we stop buying them, but we can do something with their waste, recycle and contribute with a grain of sand that in the long run could represent a lot.