A Recycling Confession

But first – the denial.

Aghast, I re-read the letter from Nillumbik Council. There was no way that I could have put the wrong things in my recycling bin – as they said I had. Clearly, it was Council which had made the mistake. Not me.

I’m a greenie, green through and through. And a very keen and early adopter of recycling. Actually, I had to be. When I moved to Kangaroo Ground in 1978, there was no rubbish collection. To make fewer trips to the KG tip, I put my glass and paper into the separate bins behind the Scouts’ Hall at Panton Hill. For almost fifty years now, I’d been separating my rubbish without incident, so I was seriously shocked by the letter. And deeply offended, if the truth be known.

I looked at the Council letter again, and was comforted to realise that my name was not on it. Ah, I decided, a generic letter had been sent to all householders. A good idea really, to educate the whole community about how to recycle. I even had a bit of a laugh at myself. As if Council had actually checked individual bins!

But two weeks later, I was gobsmacked again. A friend in Hurstbridge told me that Council had commended HER recycling efforts and rewarded HER yellow bin with a ribbon. She mentioned something about a camera on top of the truck that monitored the contents of each bin as it was emptied.

What? Then perhaps my letter was valid after all, and it really was my mistake? I rushed home and found the page explaining what could go in the yellow recycling bin. Yep – I confirmed that I had been doing the right thing.

It wasn’t until a week later that I rechecked the page. But this time, I looked at the red bin listing.

And there it was.

The long-life milk containers had to go in the RED bin. Not the yellow bin where I’d been putting my soy milk cartons.

Oh. My. God.

For a few moments, I tried to defend myself. Had the system changed? I was sure that it had been okay to put these cartons in the recycling bin, once upon a time. But really, the brutal truth was that I hadn’t kept up. I hadn’t been doing the right thing. I was one of those old people stuffing up Council’s waste management system.

Me. It was a bitter blow.

A month on, I can now laugh. I put out my yellow bin somewhat sheepishly, having seen the error of my ways. My soy milk cartons now go firmly into the red bin.

In the end, I appreciate that Nillumbik Council alerted me to my mistake.

I’ve apologised profusely to my yellow bin. We are currently rebuilding trust.