I live in a nice neighborhood. The median income is high enough that I am sure the people here are smart and hard working. We even have a lot of stay at home parents (like me). So when I see trash cans out and there are cardboard boxes sticking out the top, or cardboard boxes stacked up next to the trash cans, I get livid. It is one thing for the 70 year old couple to not recycle, but for a family with kids, not recycling seems cruel.
“Honey, I am throwing away this soda can so you won’t have clean air when you get older.”
“Thanks, Mom”
And the worst part about this anger is that I do not know what to do about it. As much fun as it would be, it would be social neighborhood suicide to go up to each door and berate the family. And I thought, maybe a flyer to each neighbor extolling the virtues of recycling, but the ones who don’t recycle would probably just throw it away and not even recycle it.
And then I came up with an idea: it is one of those cruel psychology tests ideas:
We are supposed to put our recycling out every other Wednesday. Most people put it out on Tuesday nights. I could walk around for a month to see who recycles. There are less than 100 homes in my subdivision so it wouldn’t be that bad.
Then I can hire a step-daugheter and some of her friends to survey my neighbors. The survey will have questions about why people don’t recycle. Let them know which items give the environment the most bang for the buck. Let them know that our county will send them an email to remind them when to put out their recycling. (I, for one, look to my next-door neighbors. If they have theirs out, I put ours out.)
And after the survey is given, I can see afterwards if it changes anyone’s habit.
Does anyone have some ideas for leading questions I can ask? Things like “Did you know that each aluminum can recycled saves enough energy to keep a regular light bulb on for four hours?”
Hi Lobo, it’s great, but I can’t see your name here!
can you give me a rant about rec…