Opinion: Australia’s hard rubbish culture a shock to my third-world perspective | Maida Pineda
As I walk to the neighbourhood cafe to get my cappuccino, the kerb-side is overflowing with household items: a massive TV, a rice cooker, a mattress and a bed frame, a few chairs, some kitchen utensils, and tables. I am in shock. I asked myself, “Why would people throw perfectly fine items?”
Each time I see household items left beside the road, I am aghast. I come from a culture where nothing is wasted. Oldand juice containers are made into bags. Scraps of cloth are upcycled to bathmats and potholders. This isn’t done in first-world countries. Our lives have become fast-paced, things have become disposable. It is quicker and more efficient to just replace things. We quickly forget about one detail. The actual thing we dispose of has to go somewhere. They don’t disappear.