Recycling pays!

We are trying to "save" the planet these days- we believe in animal rights more than ever, fight for endangered species, cuss establishments that pollute the environment, encourage people to use non renewable resources judiciously and what not. But what percentage of people actually does it in your country?

In Britain, we do ask for shoppers if they want plastic bags at the cashier in supermarkets, hoping that they might have reusable bags on them. If not, we generously offer them any number of plastic bags to carry their purchases. Some double the bags in case it breaks, some triple the bag if it’s their favourite hooch and some even come up with wisecracks when you ask them if they need bags, my favourite reply from a customer- "No no, I‘ll balance the items on my head till I reach my car". All I am trying to get at is that people, if not completely apathetic about their actions are sometimes offended by the idea of recycling. I have never seen people reusing the free bags either, after all it’s free! Why should someone be rewarded for an act that might keep their own locality clean? Forget the larger picture- plastic is not only non biodegradable, it’s a menace. Such a menace that companies pay "third world" countries to take care of their waste. That’s completely another topic for another day of blogging.

In Sweden I was surprised with yet another system that encourages recycling so vividly that it actually is remarkable. To begin with, when you are shopping a commodity that has glass, plastic or alloy packaging (cans), you can look for monetary value on the packaging. It ranges from type of packaging- cans can have a value of 50 Ore or a Kroner. Large PET bottles can have a value of 2 Crones. The idea is this- you can choose to throw it away and not feel guilty about not recycling but lose some money. Intelligent, ain’t it? Or what would be more intelligent is if you kept the empty cans and bottles, returned it to the supermarket those came from, you could have a wee bit of extra savings!!

If you are thinking, what a pain would it be to carry the items back to the supermarket, stand in line to give it to a cashier and then carry on shopping- think again. There are these machines that resemble an ATM setup inside the hanger of  the supermarket, just before the entrance. That is where you have a diagrammatic display by each counter to indicate what goes there.

The picture on the right shows a bunch of students trying to get some cash off the party they had previous evening. Personally, it seems like they have a treasure box of beer cans and hooch bottles and Coke PETs. Looks to me like they are also gonna have another party from the cash they get of the machine ;)

As you load in a can there is a display that shows the cash you have earned for that can. With each addition, the display kicks in a growing value. It’s quicker than you think it is. It’s like spoon feeding a hungry baby. Now when the cans are all consumed by the machine, you press a nice green button that prints out a small slip with the amount you deserve. Then you go to the counter which pays you for your PET bottles the same way. These slips are kept together when you are going to the cashier to pay for the purchases made that day for reimbursement. If there are no purchases, the cashier will still give you the cash with a smile and say "Varsagod" ("Here you are").

Hypothetically speaking, if one was a derelict and had no means of earning, he could still collect cans and plastic bottles and go to the nearest supermarket for to collect his reward. No 'National insurance number' required.

I wish there were more systems like this all over the globe-some nominal payment for a person who is willing to be a part of recycling. I am sure there are people who still don't want to be a part of the scheme simply because they are not interested to carry the waste back to the supermarket. Or maybe they are a bit too posh for a deed like that. Tell you what though, I wouldn’t mind picking a stray can on a bus or a park and add it to my collection. It really pays.

'Would I do it otherwise' is my food for thought tonight.