My
husband took a load of leaves to the dump the other day.
Next to him, someone pulled up and dumped a toy box full of
Barbie Dolls, Matchbox Cars, board games, and other toys.
A person has to pay to leave something at our city dump, meaning
that rather than donate these toys somewhere that they could be cleaned
up and recycled, given to kids who can’t afford new toys, this citizen
took them to the dump, a dump that is predicted to be full to its
capacity in less than two years.
I
have seen this before, people throwing away perfectly usable items that
could be recycled if donated to the appropriate agency.
Because of my upbringing, I never throw away anything that I
think someone else might be able to use, even if it is broken, things
can be fixed or painted or mended, so I give them to Goodwill or ARC.
In this culture, however, people are quick to throw things away,
with little to no awareness that there really is no “away.”
© Salahub 2003