Green, and proud of it!

With the introduction of recycling in the early 1990's on Auckland's North Shore [where my family lived in NZ], the City Council ran huge campaigns educating its residents about landfills, how to recycle, and the benefits of going 'green'.

This made quite an impression on me and as a young pre-teen, I took the role of making sure no recylable bits ended up in the rubbish bin by fishing them out [well, whatever was at the top of the pile anyway] and reminding the main offenders in our household about recycling.

Since coming to Dubai, I have to say that recycling is not made as easy. Most people live in apartments and use the provided rubbish chutes on each floor. I've not seen a green bin since we've landed here outside anyone's property and definitely not in sight at apartment blocks.

I have to admit I got lazy and everything was going down the rubbish chute. I did feel guilty though knowing I was tossing out recyclable materials that would end up in some landfill. However, after a bit of research on the web, I have managed to find that there are a few large public recycle stations around the city.

Since then, I'm proud to say that I've been separating all my recyclables and taking them down to a recycle station each weekend where we have been going anyway to take Gypsy Dog for some long walks. I'd forgotten how much rubbish this cuts out - for us, at least two thirds!

Really, it's such a simple thing that everyone can do for the environment. So I encourage all of you to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

If you don't know how, find out more about recycling here.