Live Green Now

When I lived in Japan, about 15 years ago, I was always amazed not only at how clean and safe the country was, but also at the extent to which recycling had taken hold (although at the same time people didn’t really seem to grasp the concept of proper garbage disposal at the beaches!).  Every day I would see people pushing shopping carts full of neatly flattened and tied cardboard and other recyclables.  I haven’t been back for several years but I am sure they are still doing a lot more than we do here. In part that is because it is a necessity in a small country with nowhere to put its waste.  I have sometimes wondered what they do with all of the cars and electronics though (when I was there no one wanted to buy a used car and they were very inexpensive to purchase). In the Sun they reported that because of the sharp increase in the price of metals, recycling in those materials is hitting new highs (in Vancouver these price increases have resulted in thefts of wire-sometimes high voltage, which may lead to death). Apparently, false teeth (yes that’s right) as well as cell phones, old pachinko machines (a noisy pinball like machine) and other previously discarded items are now being collected and recycled…….I wonder if the concept of reusing will grab hold-particularly in the auto industry and appliance sector.  Oh and about those dentures, apparently the metal from them was collected by the Japan Denture Recycle Association and this raised $31,000 to donate to UNICEF! Who would have thought!