The three 'r's

*m.o.h. thinks that recycling is for people who wear argyle socks, cardigans and ties.

he thinks that he is singlehandedly saving the planet if he puts the blue box out on the kerb once every two weeks.

but i know what he does when i'm not looking.

he puts plastic in the garbage.

he puts cans and jars in the garbage.

he thinks it's all a big waste of time!!

he thinks the three R's stand for "rubbish, refuse and (get) rid of it"

and not "reduce, re-use and recycle" as we responsible citizens who care about our carbon footprint know only too well.

when HE'S not looking i go behind his back and take things back out of the garbage.

tonight he took the pins out of three new shirts.

he could have kept the pins and re-used them.

he put them inside the very large plastic bag from the store that the shirts came home in.

he stuffed everything in the bin.

i confronted him.

he said, "i didn't want the grandbairns to get these pins stuck in them so i disposed of them safely." and he didn't even flinch when he said it.

the other day he came home bursting with news. it's as if he needs to prove to me how much a waste of time trying to save the planet is.

he had been reading about these new, long-life, environmentally friendly lightbulbs that i've installed all over the house.

he said. "they are 10 times worse than the old ones."

"yep, they are LETHAL! full of MERCURY! and they do much more damage to the environment than the older ones that you replaced them with."

so i said, 'fine. take them all out and throw them away then." thought that would shut him up.

'you can't throw them away, you can't even recycle them!!" he explained (happily) "they pollute the land"

i swear he was pleased about the whole thing.

*my other half