Everyone talks about recycling

Picture yourself standing in front of two large bins. You‘‘re looking to dispose of a plastic bottle, from which you‘‘ve just sipped 20 fluid ounces of beautifully packaged tap water. One of the bins before you is full of candy wrappers, some cardboard, a banana peel. Fruit flies flit above it. The other bin is marked “recycling.”

Which do you choose?



Based on an informal survey of waste containers in our field of observation, we‘‘re guessing that there‘‘s at least some possibility you‘‘d choose the trash.



And why? If the recycling bin were 15 feet or some other atrocious distance away, maybe the quick decision would be understandable, but side by side?



Certainly recycling can be confusing. Some jurisdictions accept composite material A; others take A if it has a neck, but absolutely under no circumstance will they take B — there‘‘s just no market for it. So perhaps you meant well but simply didn‘‘t know what to do.



On the other hand, those environmental types still seem like weenies, even though you‘‘re friends with a growing lot of them. So maybe it was contrarian pride?



At least then you would have had a purpose. Surely it wasn‘‘t the final possible reason, the simplest explanation, the one that would make Occam of Occam‘‘s razor blush: You were lazy.



If you‘‘re one of the many wonderful folks who actually did the right thing in this situation — kudos to you. We need more of you.



Say, the next time you‘‘re walking along one of our tidy city streets, could you pick up that can?