Recycle bins are meant for recyclables, not trash

Sharjah

I have always wondered what would be the toughest job in society and I realised that one of the toughest would definitely be the job that the municipal cleaners have. Garbage bins are used for throwing waste in, but not many people do this. They instead throw edible items in recycle bins, which are placed in the Muweilah area in Sharjah. These recycle bins are meant for recycling aluminium cans, bottles, paper or tetra packs. They shouldn’t be used to dump food.

These days, everyone takes pride in saying they recycle, but what exactly are these people recycling? I was surprised to see some sort of juice dripping from the bin, and not only have people dirtied the bins, but also the floor.

Why does it have to be so difficult? I hope people stop throwing things everywhere. We have trash and garbage bins for a reason, so why throw trash on the ground when you could throw it in its intended place? Additionally, we should only throw recyclable items in recycle bins.

People still litter, largely because they are lazy or the area is already messy, in which case they think — why bother finding a trash can?

Modern recycle bins even have pictures of the items to be thrown. Thus, I request people to wake up and do the right thing, because who would want to walk past a smelly place? I sincerely hope that this report raises awareness amongst people and they stop their bad practices.

— The reader is a student based in Sharjah.

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