One of cultural things I like in Americans is their attitude to recycling garbage. It is impossible for Russians, as well for, I think, still for most nationalities, to sort waste to properly recycle it later. Maybe I can’t imagine it, but am sure that American do the right thing.
Back home, in Russia, we have only one trash bin for any type of garbage. Chinese government is introducing two-urn system on the street: one urn for recyclable materials and one for non-recyclable. But citizens, in my observations, still don’t differ these urns. In U. S. there are sometimes three and even four waste containers in one place – separately for plastic, paper, aluminum and non-recyclable. And people readily sort their garbage before throwing it away.
We can discuss American habits, funny or excessive rules and restrictions, even U. S. foreign policy that many governments find too meddling, etc. Many may find U. S. people too individual and egoistic. But when it comes to citizens’ responsibility that helps whole society survive and develop, Americans might be model for many of us in many cases. Recycling is one of significant examples.
I agree with you Evgeny. Most people in China still do not have concept of recycling. Besides USA, we also can find good example from Japan and South Korea.
Costa Rica takes it to an entirely different level. It was incredible. Even though you do see recycling bins in most places in America, in Costa Rica (from my experience) it was common to see 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 different kinds of recycling bins in a row.
While recycling is a powerful social movement in the States, it is just a fact of life in Costa Rica.