Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Throughout the semester we have been learning different techniques about how to reduce our carbon footprint, live a more sustainable lifestyle,  and consume less. Each semester the CELL students have to chance to do a research project that benefits the community. This semester we split into two groups, group 1 is the "recycling group". The members of this group were asked to create a recycling event, where community members could come, play games, and learn about the new recycling program Solheimar recently implemented. The members of this group include Emily, Julia, Yilin, and Chen; they put together a great event where residents came and played games, made crafts, and earned a recycling certificate. The joy that this event brought to the homes people is what really got me. It was incredible to see them learn and just hang out with each other.  It was also an opportunity for us, the interns and the homes people to come together. It was amazing to see their faces light up when creating a caterpillar out of recycled material, or sort items into the correct bins. It wasn't only the homes people that got joy out of this event, but it was obvious that the interns and my fellow CELL students also took a lot out of the experience too. One of my favorite parts was the photo taking booth, at the end of the event everyone was having coffee and cookies while enjoying each others company. Some of us started to goof around taking funny pictures with each other, a few of the homes people caught on to this! We ended up taking picture after picture with them, it was truly amazing to see the joy something this simple could bring to their lives.

 

all of the CELL girls with Rosie! 

The day before this grand event, we had the opportunity to visit one of two recycling plants in Iceland. We met with a man who has worked for the company for about 22 years (so he had a pretty good handle on the operation). He had very valuable information to share with us, and the group did not hesitate to inquire about different issues we were curious about. One of the most interesting things we learned is that Iceland cannot recycle glass. While normally one may choose glass containers over plastic, in Iceland its not as sustainable as you would think. Since they cannot recycle it, and it is to expensive to ship to Europe they bury it. There is rumor of an initiative to figure out if the glass can be crushed and used in roads or other construction, but for now they bury it. Another thing that got me thinking was with the plastic that doesn't get melted and reused. This includes plastic bags and other types of special plastics. With this material, their way of recycling it is to send it to a place that burns it, and then is used to produce electricity. For me I debate what is better for the environment? Burn these toxic plastics and have the toxins released into the atmosphere, or  throw them away and have them go into a landfill, where there might be a somewhat protective barrier to keep the toxins from going into the ground, but chances are the chemicals are still getting into the ground water. Neither option seems ideal to me... so what do we do? This is a questions that I have been facing a lot this semester, each issue we face is so interconnected with other issues. The only alternative I see is to stop using plastic bags all together. Now this is easier said than done, when going into a grocery store and looking around I start to feel overwhelmed by this idea of eliminating plastic from my diet. There are so many items that have loads of unneeded packaging. Now no one is perfect but I am learning way around this issue, and how to limit the amount of packaging I purchase when I get back home. For example buying in bulk, and using reusable bags are just two simple ways to help the cause. I am not saying that the recycling plant is doing a bad job, their heart is in the right place, and the things they are doing are great! We even learned that they are not necessarily making a profit off of some of the things they recycle, so that shows they do what they do for the right reasons! Also the way the system is set up, is pretty much a no fail system. Meaning that the average person cannot even screw it up, by recycling the wrong thing. They also have huge compost bins, and the compost if free to residents in the area. I was really happy to see that, no one is perfect and I am coming to the realization that out of the people who are trying to make a difference, they are doing their best.  There is still a lot of room for improvement, and growth. But these things come with time, and furthering education. I am not losing hope in society when it comes to environmental issues, although sometimes it gets hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but together I know we can dig ourselves out of this mess!

 The Recycling group! (clockwise: Yilin, Chen, Emily and Julia)

- Elizabeth G