This one has always steamed me, even before I started "going green" (you can read that as either environmentally conscious or just plain cheap!): people at the office who dump their plastic bottles or aluminum cans in the trash when a recycle bin is literally right in front of them. It makes me want to scream!

In one office I was in we had this guy who purposely put all of his recycleable stuff into the regular trash. Again, this was a while ago before I read Plan B 2.0, but even then it rankled me. Good heavens! Even if you think recycling's a crock, as he did, just go ahead and toss your stuff into the recycle bins, anyway - the worst that can happen is that your bottles, cans, and paper will wind up in the dump. But they'll definitely wind up there if you just throw them in the trash!

What brought all this on today was when I happened to peer into our office garbage can - which sits right next to a recycling can for aluminum cans and one for plastic bottles - and there was a big plastic bottle in there. Grrr. So I fished that out, only to find some more bottles! And to add insult to injury, these bottles - there were about four of them - had little plastic candy wrappers stuff inside.

It wouldn't have been quite so aggravating if I had been able to get the stupid plastic wrappers out easily. But noooOOOOoooo. I had to shake and squeeze the damn bottles like I was trying to give a gopher the heimlich manuever or something to get those stupid wrappers out of there. I'm sure my coworkers thought I was having some sort of spastic fit, but since our office makes Dilbert's work place look tame, I doubt anybody thought much of it. We're all entitled to our little eccentricities.

To be honest, I don't want to become the office "eco-nazi". On the other hand, what the heck's wrong with people who do this? Are they missing an essential amino acid or something? Look, guys, make the freakin' effort to get your recycleable stuff into the right can. It doesn't take any more energy, trust me. And don't stick your stupid candy wrappers, straws, etc. in your bottles and cans.

Listen: do you think landfills are free? Your taxes, homeowners association fees, etc. all pay for the people, trucks, equipment, and land needed to make a place to dump your stuff. That costs you money, dunderhead! So the less you put in there and the more we recycle, the better off we all are, right?

Moral of the story, for the folks who are proud to be eco-potatoes: please at least humor those of us who are trying to do the "right thing." You don't even have to believe in it, just be nice (or at least think of your money being buried with all your stinkin' trash). Otherwise Cousin Vinnie is gonna have to come pay you a visit...

Tag it:

?

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.3