I used to fancy myself as a binfluencer, the first mover on bin night, leading the way and signalling to the neighbourhood what colour bin they should be wheeling out this week.
asserted
they → use → bin
But all that changed one morning a few years back as I left for work and went to pop an empty cereal box into my yellow-lidded recycle bin.
asserted
I → change → bin
I was shocked to see a half-drunk bottle of chardonnay (who wastes good wine?) and a shopping bag containing a shoebox with worn stilettos.
asserted
who → see → stilettos
I soon landed on a list of suspects.
asserted
I → land → suspects
Eliminating elderly neighbours who had graduated to sensible shoes, and the tradies renting across the road – unless they were cross dressers – I was fairly sure I knew the culprit.
asserted
I → eliminate → culprit
In my head, I dumped the items on their verandah but in truth I placed them in the right bins and just added it to my mental list of grievances about their selfish parking and generally up-themselves demeanour.
asserted
I → dump → parking
My husband rolled his eyes.
asserted
husband → roll → eyes
While I’m an occasional bin fairy, reciprocating with neighbours to wheel bins back in after they are emptied, my bins now go out at the latest possible time.
asserted
bins → ’m → time
I know.
asserted
I → know → ?
It’s petty.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Each household pays rates and what does it matter?
asserted
it → pay → what
But for some of us it does matter.
asserted
it → matter → us
We care about our consumption, weighing up packaging and ability to recycle or reuse said packaging in our buying choices.
asserted
We → care → choices
It’s one thing sorting your items, but contamination is a huge problem.
asserted
contamination → ’ → items
If someone drops their doggy do-do bag in my yellow recycling everything turns to poo, literally.
asserted
everything → drop → poo
It has happened and in my Food Organics and Garden Organics, FOGO, bin too).
asserted
It → happen → bin
We sort our waste across the bins and take advantage of programs to recycle tablet blister packs, E-waste, globes, pet food pouches, plastic plant pots, old towels to the vet and much more.
asserted
We → sort → vet
I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t really.
asserted
it → know → work
Many European countries, according to the World Population Review, have very high rates of recycling due to strong policy, public engagement, product stewardship and infrastructure to avoid having to burn or bury waste.
uncertain
countries → accord → waste
I’ve landed on a system and organise drop-offs of recyclables to coincide with other activities.
asserted
I → land → activities
I do realise when I place an item in a recycling bin it is a leap of faith.
asserted
it → realise → faith
While my inner Melbourne council still has weekly rubbish or red-lidded bin collections, many of the councils next to me have fortnightly waste collection.
asserted
many → have → collection
This has turned into a state election issue with the Liberal opposition pledging weekly waste collection.
asserted
opposition → turn → collection
I think I could easily manage fortnightly because I look for alternative places to get rid of waste, but I realise it is different for everyone, depending on their age and stage.
uncertain
it → think → age
Festering nappies, incontinence and medical waste products are often cited by those opposed to fortnightly collections.
asserted
nappies → fester → collections
I visited a FOGO recycler and was shocked to see nappies, plastic and other rubbish being fished out on a conveyor belt.
asserted
nappies → visit → belt
Real people have to do this job.
asserted
people → have → job
My council, as I am sure others do, slaps stickers on bins with wrong items to shame residents.
asserted
others → do → residents
I see recidivist offenders.
asserted
I → see → offenders
I’m embarrassed for them.
asserted
I → ’m → them
I wonder if it’s an innocent mistake, they don’t care or a neighbour has put the incorrect rubbish in their bin.
asserted
neighbour → wonder → bin
To be fair, it takes some time for my husband and I to fix things when one of our kids dumps everything from their floordrobe in the rubbish bin.
asserted
one → take → bin
My council was an early adopter of the now controversial purple glass bin, rolling them out in late 2020.
asserted
council → roll → 2020
I reckon they jumped the gun and should have waited until the Container Deposit Scheme started.
asserted
Scheme → reckon → gun
Inner suburban dwellers like me don’t have the room to store four bins.
asserted
dwellers → have → bins
For some people storing these bins would be an access risk for emergency services in a fire not to mention accessibility on tight streets.
asserted
storing → store → streets
I’m lucky to put mine out once every two months while the share house up the street puts their purple bin out every month.
asserted
house → ’m → bin
I know people will say I have too much time on my hands.
asserted
I → know → hands
But we’re in a rubbish crisis.
asserted
we → ’re → crisis
Our population is booming; landfill sites are filling fast and the cost to ratepayers of disposing of our rubbish is skyrocketing.
asserted
cost → boom → rubbish
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
