I drive my Mom (Tannie Chrissing, Krisjan, Mam) insane, when I visit, with my recycling antics.
I have been known to (very self-righteously) dig through unattended bins for any glass, tin, paper or plastic that may have missed the Recycling bag.
But, I have come to realise, that my Mom has actually been (green) streets ahead of me.
She may not have been recycling for long, but she has been upcycling for years!
Ever since I can remember she has collected and re-used everything from juice bottles to margarine and ice-cream containers:
Turning single-use plastic into multi-use plastic, way before it was the done thing.
(Which is, of course, far better for the environment than recycling, as it uses less energy and water.)
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Recycling has been a bit of a challenge in Ghana, so far. Well, actually, three challenges…
Recycling Challenge#1: Keeping It Separated
And with that, I do not mean separating my plastics from my tin.
I mean, keeping Charlie and his twelve wives separated from the recycling. ( See Day#36 )
Recycling Challenge#2: Bottling It Up
It is almost impossible to avoid the endless stream (no pun intended) of water bottles. ( See Day#30 )
Even though I am still re-using my very first box, the stack of plastic bottles in my recycling pile still grows.
This is because everywhere you go you get give bottles of water – I think I get extra ones for looking like I am about to pass out from heat exhaustion, on a permanent basis.
Amount of meetings = Size of recycling pile
At the rate the meetings are going at the moment I am soon going to need to rent the apartment next door for Charlie and the recycling.
Recycling Challenge#3: Collecting It
I have not been able to find a recycling service that collects in the East Legon area, where I live.
And I have my hands (and bags) full of paper and plastic that I try and keep away from Charlie.
In the meantime I am following Tannie Chrissie’s example, and upgrading to upcycling.
Here are a couple of my (and Charlie’s) upcycling experiments, so far:
Ps, I have since discovered Environment360. They do amazing work. Have a look here
This is Kokrobite, where I surf. Environment360 can always use more hands (or rands) here
