“Don’t throw that into the trash can!” I froze like a pace bowler after a 22 yard run-up, whose arm had been brutally held just before delivering the ball. My millennial daughter was glaring at me, with the compost bin in her arms, ordering me with her eyes to dispose off the banana peel in my hand into that receptacle.
Welcome to the green revolution, which has a new meaning in the hands of her generation. Everything that you earlier threw into the garbage container now has a labelled bin as the rightful recipient. Many times I wonder if the human body is also a candidate for such recycling.
I admire the tenacity with which the younger generation – I frankly admit that I have no clue where various generations labelled millennials, x, z and other symbols begin or end – is trying to save the Earth while battling the indifference of thick-headed elders like me. “Dad, why don’t you get it – the Polar ice is melting, carbon emissions are at an all-time high and you still continue to read the printed newspaper.”
I have been stopped from going out to buy groceries because I forget to take my reusable bags and come back with items wrapped in non-environment friendly packaging. On top of this is the admonishment from my wife for shelling out additional pennies for bags at the grocery store.
My garage has a dozen containers that are colour coded and labelled with what can and cannot be thrown in. I have been rudely chastised more than once for dropping a styro-foam coffee cup into one of the recycle bins. My computer mind cannot help thinking, “What if the desktops and laptops have different ‘recycle bins’ for documents, emails, photos, videos, etc.? Would IT be considered more green?”
The whole world seems to be recycling at a dizzying speed. I cannot walk a hundred feet down my street without encountering a recycling container. And there is a food recycling bin near my town centre effectively preventing anyone from walking that way due to the all-pervading odour it emits.
Going out for a picnic or travelling in general has undergone a sea change. No paper towels, no plastic cutlery, no disposable water bottles, not even sachets of salt and pepper. Everything needs to be carried in glass containers, to be delicately handled and safely returned to base upon completion of the journey. One may buy food and drink during the trip but no containers of any kind can be accepted from the vendor – strictly BYOA (Bring Your Own Accessories). I cannot help recollecting the train journeys we used to undertake in the bygone years where my grandma used to literally bring the kitchen with us.
These days, I wake up in the morning dreading the list of recycling activities scheduled for the day. Given a choice, I would completely eliminate the process of cooking and eating - and, yes, recycling too – in favour of a few nutrition pills.