Have You Hugged A Tree Today?
It's amazing how things add up. Day in and day out, you're reading newspapers, scribbling notes, watching your bills pile up, and one day you realise - hey, the bloody stack of papers have grown almost as tall as you are! To be not-too-precise, about 1.6 m high and 90 kg heavy. The pile of old newspapers, not me.
I think there's enough paper in there to make a tree, don't you?
I kinda feel sorry for trees now. But unfortunately, I love my written pages more than reading words on a phosphor screen, even if I had to fork out $60 for a comic I could download for free. Perhaps it's time I got rid of that little prejudice of mine. Think about it - save the trees while saving money. And since our money is made of paper, I guess saving money can help save more trees too!
Anyway, I bundled up the old papers, and with many a heave and a grunt, brought it all to my car (although not before attempting to take some arty shots of old newspapers - yes, I'm a shutterwhore, but one who's uses digital photographs rather than printed ones so I'm not consuming more trees there). I then drove out to a junkyard to scrap it all. Just like that, that humongous pile of papers was suddenly reduced to two measly pieces of paper...
And they call this recycling? Shouldn't I be getting an equivalent amount of dollar bills in weight or even volume? Grrr. Save the trees, I tell myself, save the trees....
I think there's enough paper in there to make a tree, don't you?
I kinda feel sorry for trees now. But unfortunately, I love my written pages more than reading words on a phosphor screen, even if I had to fork out $60 for a comic I could download for free. Perhaps it's time I got rid of that little prejudice of mine. Think about it - save the trees while saving money. And since our money is made of paper, I guess saving money can help save more trees too!
Anyway, I bundled up the old papers, and with many a heave and a grunt, brought it all to my car (although not before attempting to take some arty shots of old newspapers - yes, I'm a shutterwhore, but one who's uses digital photographs rather than printed ones so I'm not consuming more trees there). I then drove out to a junkyard to scrap it all. Just like that, that humongous pile of papers was suddenly reduced to two measly pieces of paper...
And they call this recycling? Shouldn't I be getting an equivalent amount of dollar bills in weight or even volume? Grrr. Save the trees, I tell myself, save the trees....
18 Comments:
RM20 is a lot of money for well, just getting rid of your rubbish. Anyway, why did you even have to lug it to your car - what happened to the old newspaper man? ("Saaaau kau pou chiiiii....!")
Incidentally, have I ever mentioned that I don't believe in recycling?
LOL! Good one!
But at least those two measly scraps of paper can buy you some new stuff. =) Not a bad exchange.
Exchange the ringits for Indonesian rupiahs, then you might have a big stack of paper again?
Save a tree a day, keeps mother earth happy always. Good effort ^_^
BTW If you are to get an equivalent amount of dollar bills in weight or even volume for the pile of papers you'd traded in... the 'Sau kau pou chi!' Ah Pek should be filthy rich by now :)
hmm... probably that's the reason why there are fewer of them nowadays :O ...dang where did i keep my pile of old newspapers eh...
oh i likes the red notes. mmm. thou i loves the purple notes more. =)
cheers you saved trees!
You should have brought the newspapers to the local goat farm! Goats eat anything & I'm sure you'd get a better price there. :D
Hey you're saving the trees so that your little niece can walk under them :) Doesn't that make you feel better?
LOL. It actually is a pretty good rate. And the sau kau pou chi uncle doesn't ever show up when I'm at home. Probably on some weekday afternoon when only housewives are in. Not a very ood way to get business right?
And I do believe in recycling. Just not in this country. But getting paid for my junk is a pretty decent idea :-P
Sam:
Let's see... those two measly scraps paid for my dinner just now. That was it :-(
Stephen:
You know, I think you're on to something there ;-)
JL:
The only way for him to get rich is to collect like enormous loads of newspapers with minimum amount of effort. Which is why I think he should make the effort to come by my apartment on Sunday mornings when more people are actually at home.
danielhenry:
Yes, we all love the purple notes more. Though if you bring them to athe neighbourhood sundry shop they'll probably ask you "Tak la duit kecik ka?" and then refuse to sell you stuff.
AJ:
Why feed them newspaper. They already eat trees. And they're probably the second largest contributors to global warming, right after flatulent cows.
savante:
Actually my little niece and I live in different countries so no, it doesn't make me feel better >:P
It paid for dinner? O_O
A 90 kg stack paper made of trees, were transmuted into two measly scraps of paper, which were also made from trees and that paid for dinner.
So in a way - did you just consume trees? =P
well if i had a lot of purple notes... why would i be bother going to small shops to shop in the first place? they have the least of choices. like seriously. they don't have kim chi at all! and aiy if worst case, buy a lot more stuff lo. think of it as saving time! time is money ma. oh purple notes. you don't want? come give me!
Hello.... um.. this is not the first time you're recyling old newspaper, is it?
Our country is still far behind in terms of recycling waste, if I'm not wrong, it was mandatory in Japan to sort out your rubbish for recycling. There's this subject called Sustainability which the environmental engineers took, you learn about how it's the END of the world because of the dwindling resourses.
~~~~~~~~geekchic
That's why I read only teh online versions. Lots of sau kau poh chii uncles all the time in my place in ipoh. but we normally dun accumulate enough of that to get rm20. my parnets used to sell those off and then give the loose change to my sister and i. we'd promptly go buy popsicles with those :)
I like the feel of the newspaper in my hand, but I don't care for the ink stains.
Equivalent stack of currency? Perhaps if you were recycling I.O.U's and bond certificates instead of old newspapers. ;P
RM20 for a (huge) pile of papers you're going to throw out anyway ain't too bad. If anything, at least it gave you a good workout. ;)
Different countries?! Hope you mean Singapore and not Timbuktu!
Convert those to pounds, then you'll REALLY start saving trees, man.
I think RM20 is quite a good rate! The newspaper man is quite an extortionist sometimes. Prolly because he's gott o pay for his lorry.
Sam:
We all consume trees. Well, unless yu'rea n exclusive meat-arian lah.
danielhenry:
Ah yes, we could then go to those grocery-shops-for-expats and erm... cruise the aisles perhaps? :P
Harvey:
Actually I only do it about once a year lah since I don't buy newspapers every day. The last time I did it the newspaper man did come by my place but I was living somewehere else then and it was someone else at home who sold it.
You do Enviro Eng? That was my pet subject and we did sustainability too. The ugly truth about sustainable development is that in order for it to work, you need to formulate policies that can actually be accepted by the people, which ultimately means education. For us here, it'll probably take another generation before people can appreciate the importance of sustainability :(
geekchic:
See? That's the kind of rewards that encourage people to recycle - old newspapers for popsicles!
William:
You're right. You have any bonds you would like me to dispose of for you?
Louis:
True about the workout. Not only carrying all those newspapers around. Bundling them up left my place so filthy I had to vacuum and mop the place.
Unfortunately I missed gym becuase of all that. But I did have a different kind of workout :)
Savante:
Try Yemen O_O
wingedman:
1 kg = 2.2 pounds, so 90 kg = 198 pounds! Wow!
-flips blonde hair-
Seriously though, I did get a really good rate. These rates fluctuate from day to day and a few months back, it was almost half of this.
we "try" our best to chuck almost anything recyclable in the recycling bin provided by the council and content will be emptied fortnightly. do it just for the environment sake and we dont get paid! i feel jipped! which i think i shouldn't
aren't you lucky you able to get some money back? ;) good on you! doing your bit for the environment
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