Can We Do It?

nce my  older friend, called Lenka, told me about recycling in her family, when she was little.

She fully admits it. Growing up, Lenka thought that her mammy was a little weird. She told to her mother a thousand times, but she just smiled and nodded: "Wait and see."
   Yea, her mum was indeed doing many strange things to avoid letting anything go to waste. Our hens got most of the table scraps from the kitchen. Doggy, whom the mum fed same food as us, was another kitchen waste recipient. The rest of organic waste went to the composting sites in the corners of the garden. She explained that compost should rest at least year before it is used. Lenka's mother hid the compost piles by planting rows of melons, cucumbers and flowers. There were also other things. She used only shopping bags she sewed herself from old jackets and trousers. She said that plastic gave her a strange feeling. On the contrary, my friend liked plastic bags – they were colourful, so smooth to the touch, so handy to carry along. And she could get a new one with every purchase! Lenka's mum didn’t throw away anything remotely useful. Paper, paper packaging and wood she used for heating the house and the hot water. Every room had an oven. Even today I remembered the nice, comfortable heat that our ovens produced, radiating warmth and a nice atmosphere.
er mum washed and ironed all the clothes we outgrew, she cleaned and polished our old shoes and put them in a special box along with other items: dishes, plates, blankets, sheets, etc. The box was emptied twice a year the same Gypsy family visited our house to collect these donation. In the garage mammy had a special barrel for scrap iron and other metal. Once a year my friend’s father took it to a distant recycling centre. As Lenka recall, her father did this job only for the sake of keeping peace in the house. We never wasted any glass – her mother re-used all of it by refilling them with the sweet tastes of marmalades, jams and compotes, plus pickled cucumbers and other vegetables. She only bought drinks in returnable bottles. Once she triumphantly rushed home, explained how she persuaded the pharmacist to take back some of their family’s old medicine. Lenka's mother was so satisfied, but my friend just turned away in shame. How strange! She re-used and recycled almost all of the waste they generated in their home. Lenka remembered once they had a big fight over emptying the thrash. Lenka caught her mother rummaging through the bin and picking out useful items. She thought this was irrational, and she know now that she deeply hurt her mum’s feelings by telling her so. But how should Lenka know, then?
ow she knows. She’s fully aware that today we produce and generate far more waste than in those days – and we have created enormous problem. No doubt, there is a clear solution: avoid producing waste in the first place.
But how?
Other questions arise: Do we need to be such unconscious consumers? Why did we completely lose a responsible attitude towards ourselves, to nature, to the planet? Don’t you think that it is time we should change? Can we? Do we have the courage a strength to do it?