So, my computer crashed, and then died, putting me in the very uncomfortable position of having to use an azerty Belgian keyboard long enough for me to be now confusing my w's and z's on the normal Polish - thank goodness for that! - keyboard. As my laptop inexplicably sprang back to life, however, my fingers seem to have momentarily forgotten where the a really sits, so some of my words may come out in strange spelling. You'll hqve to deql.
Even though I would gladly spend more time complaining about the horrors of Belgian keyboard, this is not the point of my new entry. Some of you may know, while many remain ignorant on the subject, that I am on my way to become a waste management expert. How, where and, most interestingly, why it is so, I will inform you in due course. Back to the point. This post, believe it or not, has been inspired by a blue garbage bag sitting happily on my kitchen floor. Why is it on my kitchen floor? Because it was returned to me by the garbage collectors with a big red sticker. Why was it returned? The sticker, through an enormous STOP sign, politely lets us know that the bag contains waste which was not destined for this particular bag. Kindly please remove the surplus irrelevant waste and let us collect the bag again. Thank you.
For the first time ever, I know that my garbage has been looked through and - in this particular case - frowned upon. I feel ashamed. My waste sorting skills are not up to Belgian standards. Damn you plastic yoghurt pots!
How does it work? I find the whole system rather amusing. First of all, you must buy special garbage bags. Not just regular plastic bags, they won't do. Blue bags for plastic, yellow for paper and, I think, white for non-recyclable waste. Then you fill your bags with carefully selected garbage (don't think that all plastic is plastic, you'll be highly disappointed). Finally, you just put the full bags outside your door, as there are no containers to store them until the garbage man comes. Moreover, the paper garbage men come on Thursdays, plastic garbage men on Wednesdays (I think), and so on and so forth, so unless you follow the waste calendar closely, you might miss your day and have to store your garbage for another week. Result: plenty of garbage bags in the streets. The restaurants gain a special appeal on garbage day, I assure you.
As I've already explained, only specified types of waste can go into the bags. And so the plastic bag, cannot contain - seriously! - other plastic bags, thin plastics, yoghurt pots and the like. This is not a joking matter: if unsuitable plastic is discovered, and discovered it will be!, the bag is packed up again and delivered onto your doorstep, so that you remove the undesired plastic yourself. Obviously, it would've been easier if the person who initially goes through your rubbish did the removing bit as well, but then we would all miss out on the educational value, which makes us learn from our own mistakes. Eco-education at its best.
And so, I shall now don gloves and sort through my already-sorted-through bag of plastic waste, so that the Belgian authorities are happy with my conduct.
Damn you thin plastics and yoghurt pots!
Stay green.
Picture comes from here.
But you see - I told you that yoghurt pots don't go into the blue bag! :-D And, on a more positive note, I can assure you that one gets used to the garbage system - and the sorting rules, and the putting it out not earlier than 8PM the day before they collect it, and the rest.
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