For quite some time I have been seeing that residents in our building throw all sorts of waste in the garbage chute, which happens to be next to my apartment. I have been wondering how to do my bit to stop this menace.
I worked out a plan and tried implementing it. One day, I got a cardboard box and pasted a label on it that read, “Kindly throw papers in this box only”. I put this just outside the garbage chute, initially on the floor in which I live, and later on other floors. I then visited many apartments, explaining to residents how waste disposal without segregation impacts the environment adversely.
I made them aware that paper comes from trees so we all should save paper, reduce their wastage, reuse and recycle. Their cooperation in not throwing recyclable material along with general waste would help in reducing the load going to landfills — a major reason for an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
After my discussion with residents, I hoped that people would separate the paper from the waste. In the next few days, I noticed that people were using the boxes I had placed to discard newspapers and other paper waste. I also contacted the Sharjah Municipality to collect the papers for recycling and they have been doing so once a week.
However, a few days ago, I was really disappointed to see that many used neck ties and other waste items were thrown in and around the box in a shabby manner (as seen in the photograph). We must embrace civic sense and show respect towards facilities provided by somebody else for easy waste disposal.
The boxes that I had left around the building were meant to encourage residents to minimise waste and contribute to the recycling of paper. Such practices would help the authorities, who have made recycling bins available to most of the offices and villas and even to many high-rise residential buildings. By placing the boxes, I wanted people to realise that it is not tough to recycle. Segregation is a necessity.
- The reader is a pupil based in Sharjah.
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