Recycling: What Individuals Can Do

Reusing bicycles

Individuals everywhere are finding ways to reuse and recycle things that are often thrown away.  In this blog post we would like to tell you two stories about individuals that are making our planet a better place.

When 

was in college in London he was known as Dr. Bike, because he often fixed bicycles for friends.  One day a friend asked his advice about setting up a bicycle factory in Haiti.  Many people in Haiti had to walk long distances just to get water and food.

Matthews had a better idea.  He knew that millions of bicycles were rusting away in garages across the United Kingdom.

Instead of building a factory in Haiti, he set up Re~Cycle, which is a charity that sends used bicycles, tools, and parts overseas.

Today, Matthews collects thousands of used bikes and ships them to Africa and to countries such as Haiti.  The bikes are given to men, women, and children who once walked 6.8 miles (11 km) each way to school can now get there by bike.  Parents who once walked four hours each day to work, now cycle back and forth and spend more time with their families.

Starting a Clean - Up Campaign

Dutchman Jan Willem den Besten came to India at age 21, and was troubled by the amount of litter scattered about the beautiful countryside.  In many Indian towns, household waste is dumped in the streets because there are no government dump sites.

Den Besten made his home in the town of Upper Dharamshala, which is a settlement for people who have been forced to leave their homes in Tibet.  He and the local Tibetan welfare officer started a clean-up campaign.  Den Besten and three Tibetan "green workers" went from house to house collecting waste materials.

At first, the local people laughed at him and his plan to recycle waste from every house, hotel, and business in the town.

Today, other Indian towns are doing the same thing.  Upper Dharamshala's clean-up campaign now has a team of five "green workers" who collect and clean used plastics, metal, and glass, and sell them to reprocessing plants. 

They run a "Green Shop" selling local craft goods and homemade jams.  The project also has a peper-recycling workshop, where Tibetan people are employed to make beautiful handmade paper products from recycled paper waste.

At Roll Off Dumpster Rentals Cooperative we take recycling seriously.  Almost all of Dumpster Rental members offer one or more different recycling programs.  If you need more information on recycling programs and you live in Vaughan, ON or in Toronto, ON areas contact RMS Disposal   for professional consultation on proper waste disposal and recycling.

• Published: 2013-08-31T14:11:11-07:00
• Author: Anna Krupp, Dumpsters & Roll Off Container Consultant