• Question: How can we make recycling easier?

    Asked by 926enek48 to Emma, Karla, Shane, Stephen, Yang on 13 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Stephen Rhatigan

      Stephen Rhatigan answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      I think recycling should be a last resort and that the focus should be on reducing and reusing. No more disposable cups or plastic bottles, no more drinking straws or plastic cutlery.
      Everything today seems to be wrapped in plastic and a lot of that plastic can’t even be recycled. I think supermarkets and shops should start using less plastic packaging and there are already zero waste shops.
      The way to make recycling easier is to not have to do it as much as possible. When something needs to be recycled I think the system we have for separating our rubbish is pretty easy but I don’t know what happens once the bins are collected.

    • Photo: Emma Hanley

      Emma Hanley answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      I think access to more recycling bins would make it easier. Public bins are usually rubbish bins with no recycling and also in shopping centres. In our building here we have recycling bin in the kitchen but from what I see all the other bins in the office are not recycling.

    • Photo: Karla Dussan

      Karla Dussan answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I agree with both @Stephen and @Emma. Society should move towards zero- to less-waste systems… Like in our grandparents time, when they certainly went to the market with their own bags or totes and they would buy straight from the farmer. There are several organisations in the world working today to design and implement a “circular economy”: http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy … where we would focus firstly in extend the lifetime of the things we use and reuse whatever we can. Nowadays, commodities and the things we use day to day are designed and made in the cheapest way possible, which is not always the best way so that things can be re-used or used for long times. Some of the ideas of the “circular economy” concept focus on making new commodities so that they are given in a “loan” rather than in a purchase… so you get, for instance, your fridge until it breaks down and the company that “sell” it will repair it instead of you getting rid of it… same with other types of things.
      I really think that is within our hands and the hands of the sellers to ask for and give products of better quality, with longer lifetime and that can be re-integrated into the economy through repairs, reuse or recycling, being this last the last resort.

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