Our good friends Jerry and Jeanie are bee keepers. Did you notice how we focus on bees with some of our posts? Jerry has educated us on the importance of bees and the environment.
We also try to keep up with the latest “trash innovations.” Jeanie’s grandson, Jake knows a lot about trash and he has spiked my interest in it also. So this post is dedicated to Jake.
The City of Paris makes a lot of trash. It is estimated that each person living in the city makes 1,600 lbs of trash in a year. This does not take into account the tourists or industrial waste. That is A LOT of trash!
But they are also big on recycling. We have three different trash cans:
One for glass…
One for recycling…yellow lid
One for the trash that is left….
Here is some of our trash ready to be recycled.
They recycle everything possible: cans, plastic cellophane, cardboard, plastic, paper, and glass. You look for the recycle icon on labels and that helps you know what is recyclable.
There are some items that do not recycle well. Such as light bulbs, batteries, or the hard plastic lids from milk bottles or cola bottles. There are bins in the local stores for you to bring those items. Pretty cool!
Some neighborhoods also have these large bottle recycle bins. You deposit the bottles according to color.
I am glad this city is trying to control litter and trash, but just like any huge city…..there will always be trash…..everywhere. Maybe Jake will be able to work on this problem for us.
What an informative and thoughtful post! I was so disappointed I could’t visit you on this incredible journey but living vicariously via the posts has been its own journey incredible. The fact that you not only understand Jake’s passion but you encourage and enable him to dig deeper speaks to the kindness and intuitive nature of the two of you…thanks, friends!
Hey Ginny!
Great blog post! I love learning about how waste is handled around the world, and this looks to be a well run recycling program. Trash is one of few commonalities that everyone has- regardless of nationality, we all create waste (and we all face obstacles to disposing of it!). The challenge is to see it as a resource rather than a problem, although this is certainly not easy in many cases.
I’ve saved all the pictures- the large bottle drop off bins are particularly interesting to me since we don’t see anything similar on a day to day basis. Thanks for sharing!
Jake
You have inspired me to learn about waste also. Because of you, we recycle and have a compost bin.
Have you ever seen the underground dumpsters? I have a picture of one that I will send you.
They have them in the suburbs but not in the main city center.
Congrats on the college acceptance. Can’t wait to hear your final choice.