What’s in it for us? That’s what I said to my wife a few months ago, when the owner of my building introduced two recycle bins in the basement, for voluntary disposal of soda cans, paper, plastic and glass bottles, and other recyclable waste. Perhaps since I am the one in the house, who throws the trash out regularly, my wife did not even react to what I said. Absence of a debate with her (for a happy change!) encouraged me to talk myself further into being apathetic towards separating our recyclable waste. Furthermore, I was quite confident that people in the other apartments in my building would never have the time and patience to participate in the recycling process.

A couple of days passed and as usual, I went downstairs with my trash bag and saw the most unexpected. There they were – not two but three recycle bins, all of which were filled to their brims with used bottles, cans and all such. I was ashamed. As soon as I went back into my house, I took out another trash bag, kept it aside in the kitchen-closet, and started feeling normal again, as it felt that I related to the behavior of many other people in the building.

I attended an international conference recently on the environment, in Boston, and learnt that an average US resident produces almost 5 pounds of solid waste per day. Shockingly, this country has just 4.6 percent of world’s total population but, produces 33 percent of world’s total waste. Each year, we throw away 22 billion plastic bottles (that’s 2.5 million per hour), enough office and writing paper to build a 12-foot high wall from Los Angeles to New York City, and over 200 million tires (almost one for every person). No wonder the recycle bins in my building are always overflowing.

Apparently, recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. Every time you recycle a soft drink bottle, you save enough energy to run a television set for an hour and a half. Recycling a soda can uses 95 percent less energy than producing a new one from raw material. So, what’s in it for us? – an economy stimulated by new industry, personal savings on recycled products, and a cleaner environment.

Although my belief - that a large number of people in my building were participating in the recycling process - got shattered by my newly acquired knowledge of the amount of waste the US produces, I am proud that the participants (however few and including myself now) are doing what they are doing, not because they are forced to. A beautiful aspect of this country is the freedom it provides. As a matter of fact, unlike the US, many European countries do not encourage recycling. They enforce it (despite producing far less waste than the US). Important point is, are we misusing our freedom? The answer is ‘yes and no’. ‘Yes’ because most of us are apathetic like I was. ‘No’ because not many of us are provided with recycling facilities, and even worse, not many of us are aware of the provided recycling facilities or of how to use them. Regardless of the reasons, it is a proven fact now that recycling is in our own best interest.

Every journey begins with a single step – so goes the famous saying. Take your first step right now – ask yourself this – “where will I throw my recyclable waste today?”

Kishore Pochampally, is a PhD student of Industrial Engineering, at Northeastern University, Boston.

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