Bin Man
With a sideways glance confirming the coast is clear I delve my hand into the bin and swiftly retrieve the treasure. Slightly sticky and dripping coke onto my shoe is my most coveted prize, a discarded aluminium can. As I toss it into the recycling my warm feeling of pride is tempered only by the acute concern that a colleague might have witnessed my bin-based rummaging. I quickly make an exit.
This habit I have developed of man-handling peoples rubbish makes me feel comparable to the homeless man who strolls from bin to bin in my local park picking out cans to sell on-masse for a few pounds of lunch-money. Whilst the sight of him used to make me feel desperately sad in recent times I have developed a respect and admiration for this wandering recycler. He feels no shame as a modern day Womble, making good what people leave behind, and nor should he. I, on the other hand, am so embarrassed about my office-waste rearranging that I sneak about like someone with a dirty secret.
The publics’ opinion on the issue of plastic bags took a huge leap forward with the arrival of a material sack proudly stating "I am not a plastic bag". Suddenly there was an alternative that didn’t make us feel like we had to start wearing hemp and stop washing our hair. This change in public perception was naturally helped by the bag designer whose designer-bags were much coveted by their celebrity owners. Joe Bloggs got on board this non-plastic bag-wagon to support the cause, to make a difference or just to be a bit more like Kiera Knightly.
My work-mates are unlikely to show a similar outpouring of hero-worship after witnessing me lunge into a bin after their discarded lunch packaging and this is probably for the best, I would inevitably end up using it to extract endless cups of tea out of them. However, if I was more obvious in my actions perhaps people would be inspired to follow my example. An “if you build it, they will come” mentality - and whilst we are taking inspiration from Kevin Costner can we apply this modus operandi to everything eco? By being obvious and enthusiastic about being green can we inspire others to think about their actions even if that thought is simply which fabric based designer bag to purchase?
Thus I am resolving myself to lead from the front in my war on waste. Each time my arm extends towards a mis-placed piece of recycling I will loudly proclaim "Oopsie daisy you’ve put that in WRONG bin / we waste £35m worth of Aluminium each year you know / I LOVE recycling me.” If it doesn’t inspire people, it will definitely change their habits through shear pity.
