Recycle it

May 24, 2009 - 9:08 PM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, Environment, General, Israeliness, coexistence

Three very different forms of recycling are going on in my neighborhood. Two have been around for ages, the other is newer, at least in these parts and they all came my way within the same day last week.

recycle I was reading several emails about the latest form of recycling to reach Jerusalem, namely, finally (!), a recycling center in the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, where Jerusalem residents can bring pretty much any recyclable material, from glass and plastic to paper and aluminum, bags and electronics. It’s run by the Jerusalem municipality sanitation department, and while it’s not exactly next door to where I live, I’m glad that they’ve opened it. Plans are to have a carpool of sorts ferrying containers of recyclables each week to the other end of the city.

As I was reading the email, some familiar sounds began drifting through the window. It was the ‘alte sachen’ man, one of several — hey, maybe one of dozens of — Arab men who walk up and down the streets, calling out, in Yiddish, “Alte sachen,” which means ‘old things.’ This is the prompt for anyone looking to get rid of old clothes, t.v. sets, furniture, you name it. No schlepping it anywhere, the alte sachen man will pick it up and schelp it for you.

That was the second form of recycling that came my way, even though I didn’t take advantage of it at the time.

And finally, during my afternoon jaunt to the park with the boys, I picked my head up from chatting with fellow mothers long enough to notice a communal garden in the far corner, accompanied by several bins of composting. Turns out my sister is one of the composters, if not one of the gardeners, and anyone from the ‘hood is more than welcome to compost and bring it on over. Then again, I could just compost for my own garden. We’ll see.

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