Ten years ago in France I wouldn’t have recycled anything. Disposal areas where separated (glass, paper, metal) and at least a ten minutes car ride away.

Now thing changed: glass, paper, pet and aluminum get collected at home in a single bag. People don’t have to sort everything out.

Recycling: sure, US and Japan also has non-refund recycling systems. (Talking about Japan, I have never seen any refund. On the contrary, when you dispose quite big stuff like futon, you have to pay!)
If it works with no incentive, it would be so much better…

By the way, I really like the photo. If someone knows which country it comes from, please tell me!

Concerning Japan, I do understand it’s part of the culture. It’s a *nice* part of the culture. But still, it’s not very ecofriendly

In Madrid there was a convergence of factors. An important campaign made people aware of the importance of saving water, and at the same time, very low water reserve levels made those savings imperative. So yeah, they were a bit forced to change!

Thanks for your long comment. (Didn’t know you posted it right after I wrote!)

I’m also thinking that maybe people here are in a way eco-friendly: here in Madrid, I often see non-homeless people forage for food or look for something useful in the garbage box. I’ve seen some homeless people doing that in Japan, too, but never anyone in a clean T-shirt.

Indeed, US is the greatest comsumers of oil. They use the huge refridge that consumes lots of electricity, always drive cars, have electrified heaters, stoves, and even can openers. Maybe their eco-friendliness comes from the sense of guilt for the massive consumption.
However, it’s also true that they have introduced interesting systems, too. For example, I liked the can recycling machine in many supermarkets. When you return cans and put them into the machine, you can get 5 cents refunded/can. It’s not a lot, yet you can get some money and it’s fun to do!

Talking about Japan, I also agree that we use too much wrapping materials. However, in some cases, it would be difficult to change it, as wrapping is a part of our culture.
In Japanese “tsutsumu (to wrap)” originally meant “to put one’s heart into it”, or “with all one’s heart”. Also, in our “indirect” culture, wrapping something neatly and with lots of materials often show modesty. In short, gifts that are not wrapped or are only lightly wrapped might be inappropiate in some situations.
Well, it’s also been changing. People do not use too much stuff (although it still seems a lot to you and personally, I always keep nice wrapping papers and ribbons.

I didn’t know about the decline of the water consumption. Am cuiorus to know what has changed people’s attitude so much. Advertisement? At least, from the domestic level, I haven’t really seen much change. (Don’t you remember some woman running the water all the time while she was cleaning the dishes and the kitchen?

But the curious thing is, the countries that gave you the eco-friendliness feeling are among the worse poluters of the world. And some of those countries that you consider less eco-friends are actually very ecologic in some areas.

Indeed, the United-Staters are among the greatest consumers of oil, and anyone who has been in Japan can see the amaying amount of wrapping they put around anything.

And anyone that has been to Madrid can see that the subject of the water is very important, and the consumption of the blue gold (as water is sometimes called) has descended dramatically those last years.

All this to say, it’s not enough to *feel* ecofriendly. You must eventually *become* it