Comments on: Monthly Recycling Days in Beijing

By: Adam Daniel Mezei

Adam Daniel Mezei — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:04:25 +0000

I’ve had a chance to see some of those pics, Rich, and sorry I didn’t let you know sooner. (Note to self: I should subscribe to your comments feed as well so I know when you get back!). By the way, I’ll be in Shanghai for a couple of weeks at the beginning of Nov., and I was wondering if it would be possible to meet you with @andreea2xe somewhere in town. Just a thought…I’m at adamdanielmezei@gmail.com by the way.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:58:49 +0000

Adam.

search for “Shanghai is my trash can” on this site. I have 3-4 posts where people randomly chuck stuff out their windows.

Not trying to make this a cultural statement by any means, but if you know that for 20 years people have been coming by to clean up the street that you just threw a bag of trash onto.. it becomes a habit.

So, hopefully, this action will reverse some of that

By: Adam Daniel Mezei

Adam Daniel Mezei — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:53:45 +0000

I haven’t actually seen people chucking stuff into the alley with my own eyes, Rich, but I hear all about it, and something would rankle me to my core were I to spy that at a national heritage site, with azure waters, blue skies, tall mountains, and an idyllic breeze…combined with little kids and old people tossing peanut snack and ice cream sandwich wrappers around the grounds without a care in the world. Have you ever caught this on camera?

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:11:59 +0000

Yeah.. there is an educational component that one would hope is learned through this. that throwing one’s crap into the middle of the street is not recycling. That’s littering.

By: Adam Daniel Mezei

Adam Daniel Mezei — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:09:38 +0000

But will this clean up the visuals and the optics as well? Yes, yes, I know we’ve got to start somewhere…but the more important thing is that when you walk down the street, will there be visible signs to the average passer-by that waste has been removed, or will there still be the thousands of plastic bags, bottle-caps, glass remnants, and other detritus that plagues most Chinese city streets…otherwise, what’s the point?

Yes, I know, we’ve got to start somewhere…