Passion for garbage

 

I visited my cousin in her apartment last week and learned something which made me smile…& therefore worth sharing…
I stumbled into this container in her place with all these recyclables.  What initially shocked me was to see how clean it was and to see even that tiny foil from the top of that yakult bottle.  We all probably segregate our trash and help in our village’s initiatives but I have not met anyone who takes this initiative so seriously and with so much passion.  She told me: 

“I do it because it is my greatest fear to become a garbage scavenger. I really and truly feel for them, I see them all the time, and, imagine how hard it must be and I think that I know that it was a stroke of luck that put us in our families and not on the streets. moreover, fortunes can turn, and, who is to say that what I have now will be but temporary?”Whenever she throws her garbage, she makes sure that it is really garbage which no one should have to go through. She does not throw anything potentially dangerous which could harm someone, especially since scavengers hardly work with gloves or boots. Thus, all broken glass or medical sharps go into wrapped plastic bags to mark them as “dangerous.” Whatever she thinks could be useful to the scavenger, she has it washed and cleaned, and present it all in a clean plastic bag to the scavenger. She told me that when she got the information about the waste market, she just printed it and gave it to the family who benefits from her recyclables.“I do it really because if we can do our part to give someone dignity in a job which really has none, then, all well and good.”

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