An Outsider's View on Ireland's Green Practices and Day-to-Day Sustainability
After living 13 years in Miami, I moved to Ireland and was pleasantly surprised on the country’s sensibility towards keeping the land pristine.
It started at my brother’s house, where they have three different bins for recyclables, organic waste, and a “general” bin.
I kept throwing things away in the wrong bin, or making the mistake of trashing unwashed containers in the recycling bin initially, but eventually grew accustomed to the right trashing practices.
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The trash pickup services have an organized schedule where they pick general trash, recycling, and/or organic on a certain day of the week. This is meticulously planned, and households are alert not to miss the truck and to keep the bin on the outer skirt of the house on the correct days. This isn’t the impressive part yet, just a taste.
The real surprise came when I saw these huge bottle return boxes at the exit of every supermarket, ready to print out money vouchers for every deposit you make. Small bottles and cans are €0.15, others are as much as fifty cents if my memory doesn’t fail me. Other bottles are rejected as they aren’t enrolled in the recycling program, mostly foreign beverages. These have a special bin for them, where you can still leave them behind and outside of your home.
Irish Recycling Machines
I see people carrying huge plastic bags filled with their month’s worth of bottle and can consumption to get a voucher. The most I’ve gotten so far is about €1.75, as I do not have the patience to keep a monster sized bag filled with trash in my periphery. While I’m sure this isn’t unique to Ireland, it is the first time I’ve ever experienced it and it’s refreshing.
My four year old nephew knows to keep every empty plastic bottle from his sugary drinks, as my brother has taught him that this can be exchanged for “dinerito”, or little money. He cannot wait for the moment where he can go to the big box machine and put in his plastic savings for the month, it’s quite cute.
The other side of awareness is on the brand side. Brands will save printing real estate on their labels to reassure consumers that their bottles are made from 100% recycled plastic. Just the way America is obsessed with calling out non-GMO, organic, sugar-free, lactose-free, and plant-based on their products, Ireland couldn’t care less about their sugar intake or inorganic consumption, they simply want to know that their plastic isn’t drowning the world.
I find these little obsessions very telling of the places where we live. Nobody is scared to consume dairy in here, as they know the cows it comes from are well-fed and humanely treated. Sugar isn’t the enemy, as a little extra sweetness will be quickly burned by the body’s energetic response to the cold weather and the extensive walking.
Aside from recycling practices and trash separation, there also seems to be a tax for motor vehicle with big engines, promptly discouraging the use of high-petrol consuming vehicles. People root for older, used, smaller vehicles and many opt for hybrid and electric options.
Ireland’s road trips will rarely last more than 4 hours, so electric cars seem to be a handy option.
Public transport, while widely criticized by Irish nationals as unreliable, is actually about 90% reliable I’d say. While it lacks in punctuality and certain key pit stops like a direct train to the Dublin airport, it is generally speaking, a trustworthy method of transportation and commuting. Dublin and the surrounding neighbourhoods feel overly populated, being tattle-told by the insane traffic during peak hours. Buses keep things moving.
I’ve counted about 45 passengers on certain buses during peak traffic hours, and I feel an inch of relief knowing that that is 45 less cars on the roads polluting the air and, of course, making traffic worse. On a superficial note, it’s also nice being able to go out for drinks with friends and know that the bus will be there, however late, ready to take you home safely (no designated driver needed for the evening!).
A local family farm keeps its livestock well fed throughout winter by packaging up the grass grown during the summer season and keeping it stored for the harsh winters. Aside from the purchased minerals to add nutrients to the cows diets, it’s a highly self sufficient ecosystem.
These are surface level impressions from my first year here, I am sure that I’ll continue being surprised as time goes by the many layers of the green Irish mentality, and I cannot wait.