First Culture Shock in the U.S.
When I first came to the United States, one of the biggest culture shock was the way people recycled. Besides that, there are so many people who use disposable dishes, forks, spoons without feeling guilty. In South Korea where I come from, recycling is not only very important, but if you do not keep it properly, you have to pay a fine. The fine would be at least $ 50 to $ 100 unless you buy the garbage bags and put non-recycling garbage in the garbage bags, which cost 50 cents per each. So, if you do not want to pay a fine, you have to do your best to separate the garbage every time you throw it away.
Why is recycling so strict in South Korea? One of the critical reasons is Environmental protection. Also, South Korea has relatively small land to dispose of all the garbage, so there are not enough financial resources. Those barriers made the country work on recycling.
Let’s do it better! Recycling is easy.
First of all, please try to avoid using disposable utensils. I understand why people use it, and I often use those convenient disposable fork and spoons in the office. However, it is significantly wasteful. Second, you have to wash empty cans, plastic bottles etc. before putting in the recycling bin. Third, collect papers including news papers, magazines, flyers, empty box in a separate bins. Lastly, separate the bottles and the lids, if it is made of different materials.
Please remember that if we don’t do it right, someone has to do it somewhere else.
Global warming is becoming real as you can see this year’s cherry blossom situation. To be honest, we can not stop global warming, but I believe that we can retard it if we try really hard!!