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Showerthought: My old neighborhood block party used to be a sea of plastic cups
Honestly, we tried using compostable ones last year and only about half ended up in the green bin, the rest got mixed in with trash. Has anyone else found a good way to get a whole group to actually sort stuff right?
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felixlee2mo ago
It's a basic design problem. The system only works if it's easier to do the right thing. People will always take the path of least resistance.
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jamie_white2mo agoMost Upvoted
My last apartment had a trash chute on the other side of the building. The recycling bin was right by the elevator. Guess which one was always overflowing.
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derek6562mo ago
People are going to do what's easy, that's just human nature. But at some point we have to take personal responsibility for our choices. Walking an extra thirty seconds to the trash chute isn't a hardship, it's a minor inconvenience. If someone can't be bothered to do that much for the sake of keeping the building clean and functional, that's on them, not on the building layout.
Besides, making everything too convenient often just encourages more waste and laziness. If the recycling bin was overflowing, maybe people need to start breaking down their boxes or taking stuff out more often. We shouldn't have to design every little thing to cater to the lowest common denominator. Sometimes the right thing requires a tiny bit of effort.
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