If in doubt, leave it out.

Given that today is World Environment Day, I think I’ll write something relevant to this theme.

So I found a takeaway coffee cup in the recycling bin the other night, because that morning my caffeine addicted flatmate went to a cafe nearby to get a coffee as Crista’s home cafe’s running out of milk.

This incident reminds me of a story I did last year for our TV program. I remember I wanted to run a story on recycling because I noticed there are many people out there actually don’t know how to do it right, but some certain people argued that recycling is common sense and one only needs to follow the basic rules, so there’s no need for a story.

But my point is…there are so many exceptions! And people often get confused with certain items. Anyway, with my persistence and my argumentative behaviour, I won the battle. 😎

Like my well-intentioned flatmate, many people think that takeaway coffee cups are made of paper, and so they are recyclable. In fact, this is not the case. Even if you separate the lid, most coffee cups still cannot be recycled with paper and cardboard because of their plastic waterproof lining.

Similar to takeaway coffee cup, Pringles can is another exception. Because it’s made of a combination of aluminum and chipboard (and the plastic lid), and it is difficult to separate these materials, thus, it’s not recyclable either.

And there are many more exceptions like these items out there and people including me may get confused sometimes.

But as Plant Ark’s Brad Gray said in our program, there is one golden rule when it comes to recycling, that is, “If in doubt, leave it out.”