put it in the trash

I took this picture on my way home from dinner one night. I feel that while many of the agenda 2030’s goals are powerful, they may be difficult to achieve. However, I believe that bringing to people’s attention the damage that liter can cause will be able to make a significant difference in our world, with a small change, that will take very little effort by everyone in the population- simply “put it in the trash”. This photograph I captured has a lot of waste. However, what is so bad about this picture is not how much is on the ground, but rather that everything in this picture is recyclable. The materials that are primarily in this picture are cigarette butss, plastic cups, and the paper containers for the cigarettes. Extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, loose tobacco pouches, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper, and ash can all be recycled. In fact, there are many programs throughout the world that you can ship these materials, for free, in order for them to be recycled. The waste collected through these program is recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and any remaining tobacco is recycled as compost. The plastic cup in this photograph is also recyclable. When recycling plastic, it reduces high rates of plastic pollution while putting less pressure on virgin materials to produce brand new plastic products. Overall, recycling is essential to the goal of the Agenda 2030 because recycling allows for new useful products to be created by breaking down materials that no longer have any use. This approach helps to conserve resources and diverts plastics from landfills or unintended destinations such as oceans. In the United States, recycling is encourage, however, it is not taken as seriously as it is in Italy. In the Snited States, most homes do have a recycling bin, however, they are often not even used. In complete honesty, Americans often get lazy and do not feel the need to separate recyclable materials from non recyclables. While in Italy, I have learned that almost every home has to separate their garabare into four categories- glass, plastic, food, and paper, making it much easier to break down and recycle your waste. This seemed very inconvenient when I first came to italy, however, now I do it without thinking. If this new habit has become so natural, I think it is safe to say that avoiding littering and encouraging recycling is an extremely simple change that can be made that will have a huge impact on our world today and in the future.