Thursday, August 16, 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE AND YOUR RUBBISH BAG!
I just took out the rubbish today and while doing so, Eureka, something struck me. With all this fuss about climate change and minding our carbon footprints, we have surely overlooked an important factor ie the rubbish disposal system of different countries.
Let me explain. I am familiar with rubbish disposal in three countries, the US (Philadelphia), Singapore and France (Paris). In Singapore the PAP (People's Action Party or ruling party) has pledged to introduce a system where rubbish is collected daily. (Singapore is a very hot country and therefore such a frequency is not at all excessive). Here in the suburbs of Paris (where the weather is cooler) my rubbish is collected three times a week without fail (if rubbish day falls on a public holiday like Assomption yesterday, the collectors come the next morning). In addition, once a month, non-domestic and bulky rubbish is collected. In Philly where I stayed 2 months last year with my second daughter, Meera, rubbish is collected once a week.
When I was in Philly, (which gets as hot as Singapore) my daughter and I resorted to freezing our perishable rubbish, like left-overs and raw food to avoid stinking up the house. We know of at least one friend who would regularly dump her left-overs and cuttings in the public dustbins on her way to work. Philadelphia is a city that stinks in summer, they say because of rotting rubbish everywhere.
Now this is where the connection to global warming comes in. Imagine if everyone froze their perishable rubbish, what extra electricity would be wasted! No wonder Americans have such giant-size fridges and freezers! For me it was one of the craziest things I ever experienced; having to freeze prawn shells and chicken skin just because rubbish collection is of such low priority (is this because of stinginess or capitalist attitudes towards taxes and government spending?).
I am very fond of my rubbish collection team (éboueurs) of mostly Northern African immigrant stock. They do their job efficiently and cheerfully and with minimal noise, perhaps because of their state-of-the-art equipment that the municipality is able to supply, thanks to our local taxes (taxe d' habitation). They are also perhaps more cheerful then their American or Singaporean counterparts because although they earn the SMIC (minimum wage) and stay in Trappes (yes one of those awful inner-cities towns where they like to burn old cars when provoked), they have health coverage, their children go to school and can, in theory at least, aspire to do better then their parents.
Once, not knowing where to throw an old car battery, I put it in a cardboard box and dumped it with the bulky rubbish which was collected once a month. Two days later the battery without the box was politely deposited back at my doorstep. Wow what efficiency! I still haven't gotten to the Mairie (townhall) to find out how to dispose of the battery, but I was really impressed. It is no wonder that I look forward to Christmas time when I can express my gratitude with a hefty tip in exchange for a broad smile and a calendar from my favourite éboueur!
Horrors of horror. According to news reports, the UK is going to reduce its rubbish collection from once a week to once in two weeks. It makes me wonder whether I ever want to visit my youngest daughter, Rika, who is going to set up house in London with 5 other friends come September! The Labour government claims that this is to encourage recycling. What utter neo-con rubbish! Us poor Frogies went into recycling several years ago and it is running as smoothly as clockwork or french cottage cheese! (Smirk). In fact the third weekly rubbish collection was converted for recycled rubbish.
A Bientôt
Ivy Goh Nair
http://www.donotknockfrance.com/
NB:
We started recycling in March 2003 without fuss, fanfare nor extra charges. It went so well that a private company has now taken over.
See below:
I noticed this summer when I was in Singapore that they had just introduced the exact same models of rubbish bins as ours. Perhaps the Singapore govt sent a team over to study the French rubbish collection/recycling system!
British people shouldn't always swallow wholesale what their govt or media tries to sell them.
A bientôt
Let me explain. I am familiar with rubbish disposal in three countries, the US (Philadelphia), Singapore and France (Paris). In Singapore the PAP (People's Action Party or ruling party) has pledged to introduce a system where rubbish is collected daily. (Singapore is a very hot country and therefore such a frequency is not at all excessive). Here in the suburbs of Paris (where the weather is cooler) my rubbish is collected three times a week without fail (if rubbish day falls on a public holiday like Assomption yesterday, the collectors come the next morning). In addition, once a month, non-domestic and bulky rubbish is collected. In Philly where I stayed 2 months last year with my second daughter, Meera, rubbish is collected once a week.
When I was in Philly, (which gets as hot as Singapore) my daughter and I resorted to freezing our perishable rubbish, like left-overs and raw food to avoid stinking up the house. We know of at least one friend who would regularly dump her left-overs and cuttings in the public dustbins on her way to work. Philadelphia is a city that stinks in summer, they say because of rotting rubbish everywhere.
Now this is where the connection to global warming comes in. Imagine if everyone froze their perishable rubbish, what extra electricity would be wasted! No wonder Americans have such giant-size fridges and freezers! For me it was one of the craziest things I ever experienced; having to freeze prawn shells and chicken skin just because rubbish collection is of such low priority (is this because of stinginess or capitalist attitudes towards taxes and government spending?).
I am very fond of my rubbish collection team (éboueurs) of mostly Northern African immigrant stock. They do their job efficiently and cheerfully and with minimal noise, perhaps because of their state-of-the-art equipment that the municipality is able to supply, thanks to our local taxes (taxe d' habitation). They are also perhaps more cheerful then their American or Singaporean counterparts because although they earn the SMIC (minimum wage) and stay in Trappes (yes one of those awful inner-cities towns where they like to burn old cars when provoked), they have health coverage, their children go to school and can, in theory at least, aspire to do better then their parents.
Once, not knowing where to throw an old car battery, I put it in a cardboard box and dumped it with the bulky rubbish which was collected once a month. Two days later the battery without the box was politely deposited back at my doorstep. Wow what efficiency! I still haven't gotten to the Mairie (townhall) to find out how to dispose of the battery, but I was really impressed. It is no wonder that I look forward to Christmas time when I can express my gratitude with a hefty tip in exchange for a broad smile and a calendar from my favourite éboueur!
Horrors of horror. According to news reports, the UK is going to reduce its rubbish collection from once a week to once in two weeks. It makes me wonder whether I ever want to visit my youngest daughter, Rika, who is going to set up house in London with 5 other friends come September! The Labour government claims that this is to encourage recycling. What utter neo-con rubbish! Us poor Frogies went into recycling several years ago and it is running as smoothly as clockwork or french cottage cheese! (Smirk). In fact the third weekly rubbish collection was converted for recycled rubbish.
A Bientôt
Ivy Goh Nair
http://www.donotknockfrance.com/
NB:
We started recycling in March 2003 without fuss, fanfare nor extra charges. It went so well that a private company has now taken over.
See below:
I noticed this summer when I was in Singapore that they had just introduced the exact same models of rubbish bins as ours. Perhaps the Singapore govt sent a team over to study the French rubbish collection/recycling system!
British people shouldn't always swallow wholesale what their govt or media tries to sell them.
A bientôt
|| Ivy Goh Nair, 9:25 AM
1 Comments:
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The Chinese New Year of the Pig, 18 Feb 2007
A year of goodwill. An excellent climate for business and industry. People will be free and easy as the Pig will generate a feeling of abundance. However the danger is that we may hesitate and waver when oppotunity calls. The Pig carries with him contentment and security. This is one year where people could be happy without having or needing a lot of money or success. There will not be many hurdles to overcome as the Pig radiates a sense of well-being. However, a great deal of prudence is recommended in money matters, as the Pig is always susceptible to swindlers.
(from the handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau)
(Lost Poem)
Papercuts
our two small girls on stone floors
cutting paper are images of another
you, small girl of the paper flowers,
and their tears etch against this copper evening
your smile.
in the solitary dark trees are again leaning
on our window and radha wakes wanting her mother
and against the violence of external storms
my images remember, give assurance to her sleep
and I reflect how these images we forged
weld days between hours, sleeping to waking
these images which within the metal
of our lives awaken to your absence to proclaim
love remains
Chandran Nair
unique visitors have read this blog (since 18 Nov 06).
Enjoyed your blog! I am sure that the situation is different in a place like Philadelphia with near-tropical summer temperatures, but I feel compelled to say something in defence of weekly UK rubbish collections, which in these temperate climes seem to do the business quite well.
Where we live, at least, weekly rubbish collections have proved to be highly efficient and have genuinely encouraged our new-found enthusiasm for recycling.
The council provides each household with two "wheelie bins": a black one for general domestic waste and a green one for compostable materials (garden waste, cardboard, wood etc). The rubbish from the black bin is collected weekly, without fail, waste from the green bin on a fortnightly basis.
Both bins are large enough to hold a good-sized corpse ;) and because they have hinged lids and wheels, are easy to use and seem to remain smell-free (also, we're fortunate in having a space some distance from the house where the black bin can be stored so smell has never really been a problem).
In addition to bins, the council provide us with an infinite supply of large green rubbish bags for mixed recyclables. These are intended for plastic, paper, glass and metal waste so almost anything non-biodegradable is cleaned and ends up here. The green bags are collected on alternate weeks (when the green bins aren't emptied).
This new system (a major change from what we had in England) has led to a huge difference in our attitudes and in the amount of non-recyclable waste we generate. We no longer dispose of kitchen waste (leftover food, vegetable peelings etc) in the bin: instead, we collect it and put it into a large garden composter, where the worms and other creepy crawlies convert it into moist black compost that we collect out of the bottom to use in the garden. Tegid applied some of this black gold to an ailing fig plant, with stupefyingly good effects!
Our major waste output now consists of bag upon bag of clean recyclables, collected every fortnight. As the jars etc are cleaned before putting them in the bags, there's no smell to worry about and the bags can be stored either in the utility room or in the garage without fear of animals finding them an irresistible snack.
Through these various modifications to our lifestyle and waste habits, we have managed to reduce our black bin output to such an extent that quite often, we find ourselves skipping the weekly black bin collection. Probably a good thing as black wheelie bins come equipped with ominous looking scannable bar codes. It's almost 99% certain that these will soon be used to replace the fixed council tax charge for rubbish collection with a "pay as you waste" system where households will be charged for rubbish collection on the basis of the weight of "black bin" waste generated.
Students, time to jump onto the recycling bandwagon, or face the consequences... You have been warned!