Haruki's way

〜スペイン・この不可思議な国〜

eco-friendly

0611-eco-friendlyIt’s already 10 months since I came to Madrid. One of the things that surprised me is that they do not recycle at all. I always feel guilty about dumping used oil from the kitchen sink, throwing away recyclable bottles and cans, and buying so much stuff in plastic boxes and bags that are only to be thrown away.

In my case, the sense of guiltiness probably comes from the education I had in the US, Japan and some countries in Europe. I should not expect that this can be applied to all the countries. but from time to time I just cannot help remembering the comment of an economist, “The awareness to the environment can be one of the parameters of the country’s maturity”.

It doesn’t exactly correspond to so-called “maturity”: each country has its positive and negative sides, and eco-friendliness can be taken positive and negative. If you don’t know for what it serves your effort of saving water and recycling, would you be really interested in doing so? It may work only in the countries where people tend to follow the rules…

Anyway, I recently found some recycling boxes for cardboards, bottles and newspaper in Madrid, even some people recycling, too! But at the same time I saw some other people trying to take something useful out of it…

Some people say recycling, saving water, using eco-friendly stuff is important, because we are dependent on the natural resources and the harm to the environment will get back to us and cause us a big effect sooner or later. For me, recycling is not too important but I feel better using less products, not being drowned in a flood of unuseful gadgets that only occupy lots of space.

I tend to use eco-friendly detergent and shampoo, because they are not too strong and my skin doesn’t get dry or irritated as it did with some chemical ones. Besides, you can make soap out of used oil, and it’s just perfect! 🙂

Some people argue so much about what we have to do when we discuss eco-friendliness. If we focus more on what is better to the health, what’s good about simple life, I think more people will start taking some action.

“If it’s not fun, it will be difficult to continue.”

The government started putting some advertisement about recycling last month. “He recycles”: that’s the only message they put. They emphasize it because it hasn’t taken root yet, but I’m curious to see how this idea is going to develop. Personally, I would suggest that, instead of emphasizing so much the importance of eco-friendliness and recycling, they can focus more on shifting to “simpler, less-consuming life” and useful and fun things we can do to actually reduce the amount of garbage. The question is “Will the ministry, backed by many industries, want to promote that less consuming life?”

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8 Comments

  1. You are probably right about the general concept. We should aim to a less consuming way of live.

    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 🙂

  2. Hola Guille!

    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? 😉

  3. Well… in Spain (and Switzerland, and many other places) we also have the system where you give back the bottles and they give you back money. We even have the system in Switzerland where you give back the bottles of PET… and that’s all, no money, no thanks, simply a good conscience. Nothing new under the sky there 😛

    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!

  4. Ah huh, “forced” 😉

    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!

  5. Right now the smile dinosaur advertising for PET recycling quit smiling and even ask you to pressure the bottle otherwise it would take to much space in the bin.

    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.

  6. Oh, really? In Spain, they have just started recycling and those recycling containers takes lots of space! Besides, I have seen people putting garbage in there.
    Who’s going to sort them out in France?

  7. I have a stash of 30 wine bottles and was looking for a glass recycling container – and came across this site! Seems that some work still to be done for the Madrid “ayuntamento”.

  8. Welcome to my webpage! Do you live in Madrid, too? 🙂