For the record, if you don’t want to hear me get on my environmental soapbox, then skip this post. I’m giving you fair warning. Still with me? Okay, good.
One of the things I love about NYU is that the school takes the challenge of being “green” very seriously- you can recycle all plastics, metals, and papers, and can compost food waste. Ghana’s environmental and sanitation difficulties offer a startling contrast to how easy it was to be “green” at school.
For starters, it’s downright difficult to find a trash can in public. This means that a lot of trash ends up on the ground, with the most noticeable item of litter being the plastic bags that contain drinking water. The trash can accumulate on beaches and in the open sewer system common throughout the city- these sewer canals, maybe about a foot wide, sometimes with grates or other coverings and other times open, also often appear to have stagnate water, and are even used as a urinal for guys to pee in public. I don’t think I’ve seen a recycling can since I’ve been here. At work, there’s not paper recycling that I’ve seen.
One positive environmental trend I’ve noticed is that many drinks come in glass bottles, and I’ve seen empty bottles get collected afterwards into a crate, perhaps to be reused in some way. The use of glass bottles might help keep beverage prices low- a bottle of soda is typically cheaper here than an aluminum can of soda.
So please, if you are reading this post in a part of world that does have easy access to recycling, take advantage of it! Okay, I'll get off my soapbox...for now.
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