Buying, and shipping, everyday home essentials - such as a plate and cutlery rack, worldwide

 In Singapore at our rented apartment in a condo we bought an expensive plate and cutlery rack from a department store, probably Tang's at the central crossroads of Orchard Road. The rack was large, shiny metal, supposedly stainless steel, when new with a nice shiny chrome or chrome effect. You could move the plastic tray underneath left or right. You could remove it to wash it. The spout directed water into the sink. The upright, cutlery holder you could remove to wash - frequently growing black mould in the humidity.

It claimed to be stainless steel. We thought it was rusting. Maybe chrome, mislabelled? My husband wrote to the manufacturer in California. They replied that the guarantee did not apply to Singapore which was a secondary market. 

We were disappointed. As we were on the point of throwing it out, nothing to lose by being rather rough with bleach or cleaning.

The good news was that when we tried to give it a good scrub, all the apparent rust was just dirt which came off. What a pity we did not have a dishwasher large enough to do it.

Dishwashers

We had no dishwasher. Many homes in Singapore have a maid's room off what I call the scullery, what Americans call the utility area. The kitchen was too small for an under-sink dishwasher and the work surface was not large enough for a table top model. Most homes employed a maid from the Philippines or Indonesia who washed up by hand.

The metal and plastic went shabby and stained eventually, After eight years in that condo, we were onto our second or third cutlery rack.

UK Dishwashers

Metal crockery and cutlery stand. On sink worktop. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Back at home in the UK, we have the same problem. Although we have a dishwasher, some items are not dishwasher proof. For example, plastic take away bowls which buckle in the heat.  Wooden handled cutlery loses its shine. Delicate Royal Albert cups would lose the painting, or chip if you slam the dishwasher door shut and items in the top rack bounce against each other. Wooden handled steak knives - not in the dishwasher! Denby ware cutlery with china handles can develop chips around the join at the top, or cracks. 

Our Nespresso coffee cups get washed by hand, because they are in constant use. We have three, but drink three cups every morning, each of us. So it's quicker to wash by hand and leave them to drain.

Our stainless steel sink has an attached drainer, so we do not need a tray under the rack, which you would need if you place your rack on the other side on a work surface. (This depends on space available, and how much room is taken up by your kettle, table top wastebin for vegetable waste, etc.

Buying Online

I went online looking at cutlery trays. The first search showed the cheapest cost about ten pounds UK sterling, 

You can re-set your computer location, or re-set your google or website to another country, if you are about to move, or want to use a different credit card, or are buying for somebody overseas, or plan delivery overseas.) You can also set to a different currency.

 If you buy in one country and ship to another, you might get charged tax before the mail will deliver your parcel. We were charged tax, a hefty amount of about seventy pounds sterling, after paying about a hundred Sing dollars to send our kitchenware back from Singapore to the UK, even though almost all of it was used and second hand, and had already paid tax when bought originally in the UK and taken to  Singapore in hand luggage with us on the plane.

Compare Price, Quality, Colour, Size

Compare Price

On a second search, I found the cheapest item was as little as about two pounds! Unbelievable price. I am not keen on gray. But if you are in a hurry, or temporary accommodation such as a serviced apartment, this could be a good buy.

Compare Size

 My husband looked at the height of ours and said, 'The one advertised is only 7 centimeters deep. Our current one is about eleven (four inches). If you have a short, or low, item, your cutlery and plates will topple and things will break. It will be a disaster.' 

We have long tongs and spatulas and huge dinner plates. What you need depends on what you are using the cutlery tray for. In a serviced apartment you might have just one set of four of everything. The quality could be robust hotel quality, thick and heavy cups, almost unbreakable. You might have small plates. only two long handled items which can be laid sideways. Our serviced apartment in Singapore had a deep sink for washing without splashing, or draining.

Style and Material

For example chrome - a penny under eighteen pounds sterling, Not for me. Either I would need it to be dishwasher-proof or I would be spending hours cleaning off every spoke. But if you have helpers, or a friendly go-to friend who organizes washing-up parties after events.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/simplywire-Kitchen-Basket-Drainer-Chrome/dp/B084CVN13C/ref=asc_df_B084CVN13C/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=435824070893&hvpos

Some items are shown with the dimensions, and how many items stack up. You can buy two tiers. That might block the view. 

When would you need such a large item? Not for one person. Not for a couple when one of them is away working for several weeks or months, or travelling a lot intermittently.

For a family of four, or five, with visitors from overseas, a party. Also, it could provide useful extra for a dinner party of four, a children's birthday party. Also privacy, keeping the person cooking, such as a caterer at a party or wedding, away from distraction from the householders, children, or guests.

Compare Sources - big supermarkets

Where can you buy. Our first check was local supermarkets. Nothing in the Sainsbury's in Pinner. We might have had more choice in the huge 24 hour supermarkets in London, like other city centres. 

Compare Small Corner Shops

You can also browse and buy in the cheap notions shops in suburbs. You can see them from afar. They have piles of plastic homeware spilling out across the pavement in front of the shop windows.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

 

Why and where to learn Malay and Indonesian - thirteen easy words to remember

Flag of Malaysia.

Bahasa means language. Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia means language of the country, as opposed to the people of the country. When I went into a bookshop in Malaysia and asked for a book about 'Malaysian', the assistant queried, 'Bahasa Malaysia?'. Not only that, the dictionary cover used the phrase 'Bahasa Malaysia'.

If you are looking for a phrasebook or dictionary, it helps to be familiar with the national flags.

Flag of Indonesia

The white does not show against a white background so I have added another picture.

Why would you want to learn the language, when you are there or plan to go there? Or even if you just what to know about about it for general knowledge?

Wikipedia explains (with my additions): 
Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia, [baˈha.sa in.doˈne.sja]) is the official language of Indonesia. It is a standardised variety of Malay, a language that has been used as the lingua franca (everyday spoken language) in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago (group of islands) for centuries. Indonesia is the fourth most populous (biggest population) nation in the world. Of its large population, the majority speak Indonesian, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Flag of Singapore

Malay is one of the four languages of Singapore, so government leaflets have English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. The tube (underground railway) station maps are also in four languages. So are the notices on the stations. So are the recorded announcements.

Malay and Indonesian are the same languages with variations in vocabulary, like British English and American English. Near enough for you to be understood in the capital cities of either.

This week, August 2020, my family in Singapore was posted seeds from the Singapore National Parks, seeds which I requested in June. The seeds were so popular that the numbers available to be sent out had to be increased, hence the delay.
The seeds arrived with four languages and I looked at the English and the Malay translations below.

Some words were immediately obvious. Others I had to look up. Here's a handy set of translations:

English - Malay (and Indonesian)
active - aktif
and - dan
bag - beg
centimetre - sentimeter
cm - sm
food - makanan
germination - germinasi
organic - organik
plastic - plastik
plastic bag - beg plastik
therapeutic - terapeutik
three - tiga
two - dua

Malay - English
aktif - active
beg - bag
beg plastik - plastic bag
dan - and
dua - two (looks like dual or duo)
germinasi - germination
makanan -food
matahari -
organic - organik
plastik - plastic
sm - cm (centimetres)
sentimeter - centimetre
terapeutik - therapeutic
tiga - three

You can get a good overview for free from Wikipedia including word endings, common phrases, numbers.

Incidentally, the Singapore national anthem is sung in Malay. Singapore National Day is every year August 9th.

Indonesian Independence day is August 17th.
Malaysian independence day is August 31st.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Go Recycling - Cleaning Up a beach in Hawaii - could you clean up your beach or city?

Trash Or Stash?
Trash is a worldwide problem. It isn't just ugly. First it is harming wildlife. Photos on the internet show abandoned fishing nets strangling turtles and tangled around the fins of fish. A turtle has a straw stuck up its nose. Birds and fish have pieces of plastic and plastic bags in their stomachs. The plastic is not excreted but forming a giant blockage or ball, uncomfortable, and killing them. 

How can we stop this happening? Prevention or cure? Cure is good. But prevention is better. Cure is good, necessary, but we must think longterm, because with the human population expanding, wildlife is diminishing. The Chinese curbed the birthrate of citizens in Shanghai to one child per family, although the government has now changed that policy.

We can prevent plastic being made. Recycle existing plastic. It is no use doing one without the other. But no use avoiding doing one because you or your orgnaization cannot do all three. You do what you can do. Others do what they can do. Together we can make a difference.

How do you change habits? Analyse your own family's behaviour and try to co-ordinate. You see what a baby does. it picks up things to look at them. Bored, it throws them away.

How can we utilitse the children's urge to throw? Stones in a pond? Making ripples.  What about plastic? Instead of throwing plastic where it should not go, throw it where it should go.

I have videos on the internet of litter bins which are shaped like creatures with a mouth which opens to receive litter like big versions of pedal bins in your home or nearby supermarket. The bin then says thank you or well done or somethign amusing in a voice matching the bin design, quakcing duck, or whatever. 

Next, I immediately envisage bottle caps being used to be thrown at targets in a game. Children will gather items to collect to throw into bins, or to make into a game.

Some people, adults, like to collect. Encourage them to collect litter.

Some people like to throw away. Encourage them to throw things in the right bin.

Some people like to create. Encourage them to create objects from abandoned plastic.

Songs
Songwriters can write a recycling song for their favourite project or city or the world. Here's my immediate effort.

Song:
What are you doing today
by Angela Lansbury
What are you doing today? Are you throwing your life away?
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

 Look - Litter's heartbreaking. Help! You could be making
Our precious earth, more dirty or clean than it was at your birth.
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

You could be prospecting. You could be collecting.
 Instead of thwarting, you could be sorting.

Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Don't you litter and dirty?  Help clean up our earth! 

We're circled by plastic. But life is elastic.
Let's pick up the litter. Let's make our life better.
While you are here, collect, recycle, make a great souvenir.
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

How was the wonderful world at your birth?
The plants and tall trees which grew from moist earth
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

When each grain of sand could smoothe your small your hand
When you could spend hours just sniffing the flowers
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

School kids walked and looked, toddlers turned picture books
Magnificent mountains, soft, pure clean water, magic dancing fountains
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you litter and dirty?  Or clean up our earth! 

Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Will you drop litter?  Or will you tidy and clean up our earth! 
Remember the wonderful world at your birth, 
Don't you litter and dirty?  Help clean up our earth! 

Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2019.
Please pass on with the author's tagline. Sing to your favourite traditional out of copyright tune.

Reward. Advertise rewards.

Punish. Advertise fines.

Here's one way to do it. Like the Canadian company in Hawaii did it. Not hurting or harming. helping.

Don't hurt. Don't harm. Help.

CLEARING BEACHES BIG TIME - BIG PROJECTS
Clenaing. Inventing. A team in Canada set about a project on cleaning plastic from a beach and picked a nototrious beach. Hawaii.

The solution was simple. Vacuum the beach with a tube from a large vacuum cleaner.

However, how do you separate the sand from the plastic? Put what you collected in water. The sand sinks. The plastic floats.

Great. That will help beaches on an industrial scale where there is a huge problem.

LOVELY LITTER
But there's litter everywhere. On beaches and promenades by the beaches. We eat and drink all day. We throw away everything we use.

Look around the nearest room, building, garden, street. What do you see?

Wrapping for food. Drinks bottles. cereal packets. paper bags. Plastic bags. Bottle tops.

HOLIDAY CLEAR UP
On a small scale you could do this with a bucket of water.

If every family visiting the beach, instead of collecting shells, collected plastic, we could all make a difference.

REWARDS
Every visit and local who clears up can be rewarded with a badge or piece of jewellery made from part of a plastic bottle.

Cut the bottom off a see-through plastic bottle and you have a circular see-through badge or brooch and cut out a circle from a piece of abandoned paper and you have a name tag, buseiness card or advertisement.

Ships
Every ship should pay a plastic tax. Or carry its own rcycling bins and recycling machines, and run recycling classes. Insted of dropping litter, ships should collect it.

No need to worry about dirt on things you pick up making you or the family dirty. Plastic in the sea has already been washed. Plastic on the beach can be washed in the sea or the shower.

I used to collect shells as a child. It was years before I discvoered that shells were the abandoned homes of dead sea creatures.

CHILDREN CAN COLLECT
Today's children have another opportunity. They can collect coloured bottle tops and put them in a recycling bin.

Plastic should be collected and remoulded into litter bins.

RECYCLING PLASTIC INTO JEWELLERY
But where does that litter go? Not back into the bins then out to sea. Instead it can be made into bracelets and necklaces.

Classes for tourists. Free classes - if you collect a big bag of littler. Otherwise low cost lessons, or even, free but donations welcome. Make souvenirs of your holiday. Donate for the class. Donate for the jewellery you make. Take it home.

Or donate it to be sold or given away. People can buy it. Or take it home as souvenir for your holiday and  donate money.

You are often asked, 'What did you do on holiday?' You have an answer.

You did not leave litter behind. You helped clear it up.

Useful Websites
Problem
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/waves-garbage-are-washing-beach-dominican-republic-180969747/
Solution
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-48551041/how-do-you-vacuum-plastic-from-a-beach

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. If you need a speaker on the environment, I have won two levels of contests on speeches on the environment. I can speak on radio or TV or give an amusing keynote speech.

Pollutions and Solutions and Protections - Leather, Wood, Plastic

What are modern day widespread problems?

When plastic first came in, traditionalists preferred wooden furniture. I was a travel writer in the Nineteen Sixties and Anne Hills took a group of us around the hotels of London, ending up at the Berkeley five star hotel. The one star hotels had plastic. The five star hotels had wood. If a table looked like wood, it was wood.

Now, we are anxious to save trees, instead of cutting down trees, cut down on wooden furniture. Instead of printing out a receipt for your furniture, cut down on paper which is made from trees and go on line.

My late mother would not buy plastic shoes because they gave us blisters. She preferred leather.

However, our neighbours are vegan, so they would not sit on our leather furniture. They preferred sit on plastic.

Now, we are learnign about the perils of all types of plastic, especially the one use plastic bag.

From Wikipedia article on Joanna Lumley.

Joanna Lumley said:
I hate ... litter in the street .. it's lack of (interest /in the planet) concern for the hedgehog who might eat the plastic bag.
Adapted from BrainyQuote

Hunger and Thirst
Lack of food and water. Wasted food.
Lack of shelter. Shortage of housing.

Pollution
Why is pollution a problem? We are delighted to find buried Roman remains, broken down buildings, statues without noses and arms, creased coins. Under the sea, we are excited to find cities. And skeletons.

Dealy In Dissolving
Why is modern pollution such a problem? There is so much of it. Plastic does not dissolve and decay and disappear. If it breaks down into pellets, this is still a problem.

 It kills wildlife.

For example:
A straw in the nose of a sea turtle in Costa Rica.
You may have seen the videos on YouTube.

Burying plastic is not the complete answer. Pollutatns can seep out of the plastic into water and damage the water and the crops grown in fields next to the waterways and landfill.

What is the cause of pollution?

Creation of Plastic
Producing plastic?

Disposal
Individuals not disposing of it in litter bins?
Not separating plastic?
Burning litter?
Pumping litter into the sea?
Discarding litter?
Excess population: More humans than animals, birds and fish.

What Are The Solutions?
Prevention
1 Straws
Instead of plastic straws, a re-usable metal straw with a straw cleaner.
2 Re-use instead of throwing away.
a) Re-use at home.
Public recycling Shops hiring the disabled to provide them with employment.
Refusing bags - taking a re-usable bag.
But is it hygienic?

Ignorance

Cost

AFRICA

CHINA
Population explosion solved by one child policy.

SINGAPORE
Population control by sending domestic helpers for pregnancy checks before granting employment pass and after 6 months.
Child takes nationality from parent, not from being born in Singapore.

Strict

UK
Population problem and maternal death solved by birth control in Glasgow.
Deposits and refunds on bottles.

USA
Thin plastic bags shredded and heated to make solid plastic which can be cut and converted into coasters and other household objects.

Post being written. Come back later.

Can one person really make a difference?
I like the starfish story. An old man walks along a beach filled with stranded starfish. He sees a boy throw a starfish back into the sea and says to the boy, "The beach is filled with starfish. Throwing one back won't make any difference."
The boy picked up another fish and threw it back into the sea and replied: "I can make a difference to this one - and this one - and this one."

I was delighted to find the origin of the starfish story on Wikipedia.

The Starfish Story
"The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") is part of a 16-page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe. The Star Thrower is also the title of a 1978 anthology of Eiseley's works (including the essay), which he completed shortly before his death.

Useful Websites
https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/05/30/a-state-in-the-us-offers-human-composting-as-a-way-of-burial/
https://brandongaille.com/125-protect-our-earth-slogans/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/how-did-sea-turtle-get-a-straw-up-its-nose.aspx
Protecting canals
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

http://www.ninjajournalist.com/social/london-marathon-edible-water-pouches/
Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts

The Joys of Canal cruising. Plastic Problems And Solutions

Let's start with the bad news and end with the good news.

Millions of pieces of plastic are polluting rivers and canals. But there are plans to clear it up. Why should we care about canals?

I have stopped to photograph canals.

Yes, I have been on canal boats, calm and peaceful.

No big decisions. You go forwards. You stop at your end point or come back to the starting point. The scenery goes slowy past. The hum sends you to sleep.

The stop-off points for food are few and far between and the canal boat owner or cruise company has them already arranged.

You take your own food and drink. You share everything.

Life Stories
You have endless hours to talk, share your life story. You listen to theirs. They listen to yours.

You learn things about them and yourself you would never normally have the time and intimacy to tell. "Childhood ... Marriage ... Divorce ... Bereavement ...

"Past jobs. What I did. What I should have done.

"Don't tell anyone. Success and failure. Dreams."

Midlands
In England we went crusing along a canal with a friend called Phil in the Midlands. He wanted to see his friend who retired to live half the year on a houseboat. We made up a foursome.

Picnic Food
The deal was that we took food and drink. He provided the boat. So we took along a copious amount of good food and drink, leaving our car in the car park by the pub at the departure point.

To our surprise, our food and drink was just for the hours on the boat. We started with the canal boat owner, more time and money spent at the pub. Have a drink.

Why? No preparation nor washing up. Hot food. The best place on the canal, why he had chosen that as our start and end poing. Order while waiting for our fourth friend to turn up on the motorway jam. We needed two to release the boat from the moorings and our fourth friend was familiar with it, not likely to fall overboard when untying the knots in the rope or chain.

After a while our fourth arrived and after a jolly lunch we left for the canal.

Pub At Night
In the evening we came back to the same pub. What had seemed like a simple, downmarket, dusty, half empty pub at lunchtime felt like a lovely warm and welcoming return home in the evening.

The lights shone through the darkness. Never mind the outside. The sound of laughter and the samll of food.

Inside was candle-light and cheer. The night hid the dusty corners. The pub was cosy, familiar welcoming, staff we knew. The toilet location we knew, no longer an unerving surprise. Pictures on the wall we recognized and now wanted to know more about. Regulars we hailed like long-lost friends. The buz of chatter.

Firm Friendship
Our friends, new at lunch time, like strangers not seen for years, were now close as family, their whole lives familiar to us.

Norfolk Broads
Long ago we went on the Norfolk broads. Invited by a friend called David. Again, by the end of the three hour afternoon our friends not seen for weeks had become very close.

Norfolk is now no longer just a place on the map for me, but like a forever childhood home, always with distant memories revived as we look at maps or drive past familiar names.

So, now I come to think of it, I do care about canals. More about the plastic in the next post.
If you are interested in the waterways, visit the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, UK.

Interesting and Useful websites
Canal clear-up
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g1118256-d3183144-r144069111-Ring_O_Bells-Marple_Stockport_Greater_Manchester_England.html
visitbritain.com
https://www.watermuseums.net/museum/national-waterways-museum/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Plastics and the Environment

Today on line has a video about an artist in Singapore who has created an 18 seater table resembling a beach, in order to focus people's eyes and minds on the fact the plastics are polluting the water and the seafood we eat, as well as the beaches.

On the table surrounding the plates are microplastics he found on the beach.

Microplastics are particles of plastic, after the plastic items have been tossed about in the sea, presumably for eeveral months.

What you can do:

Shoppers
1 Buy re-usable water bottles.
2 Buy metal straws.

Crafts and DIY enthusiasts
Shred thin plastic, heat it in a sandwich maker and turn it into thick multicolour plastic.

What the country's local council can do about recycling.
Invest in more recycling instead of burning plsatic which we have washed and sorted.
Local disintegrating bags for kitchen waste
Compost bins.
Use up leftover food.
Give away or sell off leftover food.
Recycling shops.
Recycling goods: eg plastic bottle tops made into murals.
Milk bottles made into watering cans or jugs.
Plastic bottles made into pencil boxes.

How Manufacturing can use receycling

Useful Websites

Angela Lansbury
Travel Writer.

Water bottles and drinking water when travelling

You need moisture in Singapore where it is so hot that you are perspiring all the time. At a morning meeting I looked for a drink. No water provided. 

The days of giving everybody a small plastic bottle of water and coming to an end (October 2018). Even if you stay in air conditioned offices and use cars and taxis, only a proportion of the car parks are underground. You spend a lot of time in overground car parks or bus stops or open air taxi stands. So you need water.

Yes, going green, saving trees, not using plastic, all very well, but people need a drink. I went to two meetings in a day with no water provided.

I used to carry water bottles. Then I got backache. I ditched the umbrella and water bottle, just carrying too much. 

We are in transit over water in Singapore. Early days - no water fountains. Then along come the gyms and hotels and coffee shop. Now you are expected to carry a water bottle and fill it up from a water fountain which has paper cups or no cups. You can buy a collapsible cup.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Litter and Recycling Plastic - How To Learn From Other Countries And The Past

 Recycling bin with clear labels for households in Singapore showing what can be recycled using this bin and what can't. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

One problem easily solved is that you need two adjacent bins with one slot for plastic or glass bottles and another for different rubbish. It could be done like coin machines. Make bottles in four sizes and have round or square holes the size for each bottle. Adjacent and attached (although perhaps detachable?) is another bin with letter box style slits for plastic bags. You could even make the bins look like bottles and bags. I've stood in foreign airports trying to read the list of what goes in which bin and been baffled. You also need a drain in which you can empty the contents, the liquid dregs of the bottle.

COLOURS
As for colour schemes, there's no international standard and it's counter-intuitive. In Harrow in NW London, green which you would think would be the friendly recycling bin is for non-recycling. Blue is for recycling.

If you drop the item in the wrong bin, the only way to retrieve it is to reach inside a dirty bin getting your sleeves dirty. However, you can't reach the bottom because it's longer than your arm. So then you have to empty the entire mess onto the drive. Ten minutes wasted.

You can spend a minute an item looking for the recycling symbol and then you get an ambiguous message, recyclable in some areas. Most people don't know there are several symbols for types of plastic. It would be simpler if plastic packaging had numbers and colours as well.

SHAPES
You could also print wrapping paper with an amusing recycling symbol or background stripes, dots and diagonals. Alternatively, or to save confusion, a coloured frame with wavy edges, to save having to hunt for instructions on the corners or guess.

Bins could cary the message, this bin recycles red circle symbol packages. This packaging is blue triangle two. This box for green tree three. Then even a foreigner or a child or a person with Alzheimers can see to match the blue or blue dot package with the blue bin and the green tree symbol with the green tree bin.

The bin itself can be designed in the shape of a bottle or tree. That's been done with animals shapes and even sounds like barking and thanking you to encourage children to feed litter into bins.

This was done successfully in the UK in the nineteen fifties and / or sixties.

You can also give pocket money to children, make the unemployed work for their money, give money to the homeless, but giving money back on returned bottles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-

Article on success of Norwegian system of deposits on bottles.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker.