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It’s ok to experiment on your relatives to sort their waste. Here’s how to do it.

Source: © Shutterstock (spwidoff)

The problem is – you’re not teaching students who have enrolled in a waste management degree. 

You’re talking to someone who probably doesn’t really care about this whole waste separation ‘thing’. What they’re really concerned about right now in fact is probably light years from your environmental zeal. One bin for organics, another for plastic, then paper… and then what’s this thing called residue? Meh. It probably sounds like a lot of fuss to them. Yes, you sound annoying to them!

So here’s the question we need to think about. If you share a home with other people, and you’re really committed to waste separation, how are you going to make it happen without triggering an epic war? 

Here’s a list of ideas.

1. Explain why this is important to you. This is a golden rule when you have a disagreement with someone. You feel you’re being misunderstood or not listened to? Say so. Under the same roof, people (usually, mostly, hopefully) care for each other. When someone says “I have a problem with this, and this is why”, generally the other person will lend their ear.
    

2. Start simple. If you want to make it easy for your spouse/child/ mother-in-law/third-degree cousin to do the right thing, make the right thing simple. Start with just 2 bins: organic and everything else. Make access to the bins convenient. Keep the bins clean. Basically do everything you can so that the behaviour you expect is easier for the other person.
    

3. Show gratitude (even if you don’t really feel like it). Are you seeing the first microscopic signs of progress? For example: did Acok or Irul actually put his veggies in the organic bin last night? Hurrah! Show your appreciation. Express your admiration. Make him/her feel validated and good about what s/he just did. It’s scientifically proven that doing that is an extremely powerful motivator.
    

4. Lead by example. Well that goes without saying, doesn’t it? But it still deserves to be said. Keep on doing what you want other things to do. No need to look like a smartass when you’re doing it, just casually make good use of whatever bins you have decided to use and demonstrate how it’s done at every opportunity.
    

5. Be patient, don’t be too strict. Surprise, surprise, all this takes time. Days, weeks, months... You’ll see Acok forgetting to separate the waste, getting annoyed. Keep going. By doing steps 3 and 4 (see above) you’re slowly forming the new behaviour you want that person to adopt.
    

6. Show them the benefit. People like to feel good about what they do. So next time you’re going by a Waste Sorting Centre (TPS), show your relative/friend what huge piles of sorted/separated waste looks like. Tell them what it’s like to be a waste picker, dealing with garbage all day long with very low pay. When sorting our waste, what we’re doing is helping them – other fellow humans who are less fortunate than us and who have very few chances of improving their lives. For us, waste sorting is an extra 2 minutes of effort when throwing away our stuff. For them, our effort could be an extra 2 minutes of relief from having less waste to separate.

Penulis: Marc-Antoine Dunais (Co-Founder PlastikDetox)

Penyunting: Dwi Jayanthi (Manajer PlastikDetox)

Profil penulis: Workaholic dilettante with a passion for keeping nature as it is -- wild and life-giving.