Recycling

Recycling is a definite way of life over here, but not in the way I have come to use and know about recycling. I have known curbside recycling and then landfill recycling where you sort out your bottles, cans, newspapers, plastics and cardboard into bins at the landfill centre. In Ho Chi Minh City people are paid to recycle, and this has become a means of generating an income in lieu of a social welfare system. The recyclers walk around the city gathering up the rubbish, so we are a few steps removed from the children fossicking through the rubbish dumps in places like the Philippans. Not far from where I live, is a building that obliviously dispenses with a lot of card board packaging. So in the evening people are gathered flattening the cardboard, putting it into huge bales. This morning they moved their cardboard recycling up the road opposite from my apartment. I have see women gather up plastic bottles, metal and bottle tops. Recycling of course is a double edged sword, it also helps to keep the city clean, as the infrstructure can't cope with vehicles eg rubbish trucks on the roads during the day. Trucks are banned from the city except from 11:00 pm I believe untill 4:00am. However maybe a little public education and rubbish bins which seem non existent, would help eliminate a rubbish litter problem and go some way towards people taking responsibility for litter. Even a few recycling bins may help. While I applaud the idea of recycling providing an income I am appalled at just dropping the unwanted litter on the streets.