The UAE has taken one step towards tackling one of the largest issues to be associated with global warming - waste. The very popular three-mouthed bins are placed at the pavements in close proximity to one another. But let’s face it: Does this teach us what it should be teaching?
When I walk down the road with a can of soda and a fast food paper bag and the need to trash these items arises, I see myself standing in front of these three wide opened mouths with flaps like the curtains leading into a car washing system at the petrol station. Like a child learning to match a square to a square, I match my items into their respective potholes. The clink of the can inside, and the sound of crumpled paper gives me an immense satisfaction about myself; leading me into the illusion that I am a minute piece of a gigantic puzzle, made to save this planet. And off I trot.
But here’s the catch. Where does this very idea of being a saviour of the day vanish when it comes to dumping my waste back in the cave of my house? Why do my cans and glass bottles have to bear each other’s presence in the same dumpyard? All roads lead to one, this holds very true when all the plastic, glass, cans, tins, cloth make their way into the same pothole back in the darkest corners of my kitchen.
This is where all alternatives break down. Into the same trash bin, into the same black municipal waste bag, into the same chute, into the same garbage truck and so on and so forth. Where, now, will the three potbellied bins come into the picture?
The change has to start from one’s own house. Maybe not at a global stage, but you definitely can make a difference with that one can you dispose off at the right place. Chuck away thoughts like, “Oh, it’s just one can”, and “it’s too much work to segregate my trash” because unfortunately, global warming doesn’t segregate between humans and things. All for one, one for all.
— The reader is a student living in Sharjah
