Letter from Boston
Recycling At Home
By MASAKO YAMADA
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日常レベルのリサイクル
雅子さんは最近、読者からアメリカのゴミ処理についての質問を受けました。日本ではゴミの分別収集が浸透してきていますが、アメリカではどうでしょうか。ゴミを減らす方法にリサイクルがありますが、雅子さんや友達の間では、衣服のリサイクル店がなかなか好評のようです。アメリカのゴミとリサイクル事情を見てみましょう。
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A reader recently wrote to me asking whether Americans separate their garbage
into different piles when they throw it away. She told me that she'd heard
that people in England do not separate their garbage and she was very
surprised, considering that many Western countries seem to enthusiastically
embrace environmentalism.
It's true that save-the-world-type books have been best sellers in the
States, and that many people donate time and money to their favorite
charities, but I must admit that on a day-to-day level, many people do not
seem to be very careful in cutting down on waste. Of course, there are
extreme people who live out their environmental beliefs by exercising
self-control in all elements of their lives (perhaps even becoming vegetarian
and wearing only plant fiber materials), but these people seem to be rare.
Some cities mandate that residents separate glass, aluminum cans and
newspapers from their other garbage, but even then, all other household
garbage is put in the same bin. There is no need to separate flammable
garbage from kitchen waste, plastics, etc. In my apartment, people even mix
glass and newspapers in with their regular garbage. Things like potato
peels or rotting fruits are thrown down the drain, since there is a
blender-like attachment in the sink called a disposal that turns kitchen
waste into liquid.
We used to keep bottles in one of our cabinets to bring to a recycling
center later, but they started to stink, and we were afraid that they would
attract pests. Lugging glass bottles to such a center is not convenient
for many people, especially if they are old or if they don't have a car. It
would be nice if municipal garbage collectors collected recyclable items on
different days, but that hasn't been the policy where I live.
One local recycling plan that has been around for a long time, and that I
like a lot, is clothes donation. Most of my friends are rich enough to be able
to afford clothes that they don't really need. Sometimes, they have too many
items to fit in their storage space and they need to get rid of perfectly
wearable — even attractive — clothing. Sometimes they lose or gain weight and
don't fit into their old clothes. Sometimes they just get sick of them.
There's the option of trying to sell such clothing cheaply at garage sales,
but there's also the option of donating the clothes to charity.
One might envision people at homeless shelters getting these clothes
for free. Indeed, this is one destination for donated clothing. However,
even people like myself can inherit donated clothing by going to thrift
stores. Thrift stores are not fancy shops that deal with antique-quality,
secondhand Levi's 501s. They are stark places with racks and racks of
donated goods. People buy these goods at very low prices. The proceeds go to
the charity that runs the store. It is a good way for charities to get hard
cash, instead of just piles of clothing. It's also a potential goldmine for
thrifty shoppers.
One of my roommates often gets positive comments on his fashionable
wardrobe. I doubt many people know that he's a regular customer at the
local American Veteran's Thrift Store. Two of my all-time favorite shirts
have come from the Am Vet store. The shirts were in great condition and they
cost only $3 (¥360) each. I know that many trendy club goers who are into
the retro look go to thrift stores to see whether they can find authentic
fashions from bygone decades. On the other hand, some of my ex-roommates
went to a thrift store to buy clothes to wear on a rough camping trip.
It's easy to donate clothes, since all you have to do is to drop them off
in a box at a thrift store. Sometimes the task is made even easier: I've
seen large clothing donation boxes on the street in residential areas. There
was a large, blue box across the street from my childhood home in New Jersey,
and I recently noticed a large, yellow box in the parking lot of a local drug
store. I've always wondered whether people actually put clothing in these
boxes. I walked over to the yellow box recently and noticed that someone had
put garbage by the box door. This was very disappointing. But I guess it's not
too surprising that everyday environmentalism has not taken root everywhere.
Shukan ST: April 9, 1999
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