Recycling

To my inconsiderate (and apparently, illiterate) buildingmates:

I went downstairs to throw out my paper recycling because it de-clutters my mind. It makes me feel better and like I have gotten rid of unnecessary garbage. It's a very cleansing feeling, and I was looking forward to trashing all this unnecessary paper from an old seminar paper tonight, before I went back to my essays and studying.

And now, I have this to say to you:

You suck.

Because you can't even get a simple concept like recycling through your thick skulls.

What is the point of recycling? So that all the garbage doesn't get put together, so there's less waste. That's the point of separating clean plastics, glass, aluminum and paper. (Of course, most people don't clean glass and plastics, but at least they're separated right!)

Do you know what paper is? I don't think you do. Let me explain this to you:

Dunkin Donuts bags that are wet with the oils of donuts and have chocolate stains all over them go in the regular garbage, not the paper garbage.

The plastic wrap that comes around packs of toilet paper goes in the regular garbage, not the paper garbage.

Your cigarette boxes go in the regular garbage, not the paper garbage. That means the box and the plastic wrap that comes around it. They are both not really paper.

Your candy wrappers go in the regular garbage, not the paper garbage.

Your plastic wrappers for packs of inkjet paper go in the regular garbage, not the paper garbage.

I started going through it thinking I would take out all the plastic, until I realized you put all your dirty food wrappers into the paper garbage and that it was futile. If I put my paper garbage in there, all of it would just get thrown out as regular garbage, and that defeats the whole purpose of recycling. I suppose I should be proud of you, as you managed to not throw actual food in the recycling. But you did put everything else in the paper garbage, including cookie wrappers, so I guess your cookie crumbs might count for actual food.

How about this? If you don't have time to separate (and that's fine), just throw it all in the regular garbage. Don't ruin it for the rest of us who actually choose to recycle and would rather not be so wasteful (I've killed enough trees because of law school) by throwing all your crap in with the recycling.

Learn to read. And learn to throw out your garbage. I don't care what you do with your own garbage. Just don't mess up mine.

I think the only way I might feel better about your dirty food wrappers in the paper recycling garbage can is if you were studying for the bar exam.

Love,
Me

(I think this would still have pissed me off, even if I were not studying for the bar right now. What's the point of recycling if it's just going to get thrown away because some people can't be bothered to follow instructions?)