It may still be on shaky legs, but, at six-months-of-age, the recycling program is starting to be noticed, and seems to be growing into a strong and prominent force of our daily life.

So today, after just this short time since recycling entered our lives, with the blue bins to remind us of our obligations to the environment and to life itself, we will attempt a small assessment and an initial research of people’s responsiveness to recycling, the consequences as well as the institutions responsible for the program's smooth operation and collection. 

We will see just how much the motto “nothing goes to waste” comes to mind every time we throw out the trash.

The positive particulars and numbers we collected show the size of the response but also the people’s attitude. 

In the Gouves Township, from April to October the collection of recyclable materials exceeded by far the pessimistic numbers that quoted non-responsiveness and indifference by some people.

 “The average recyclables collected monthly in the Gouves Demos surpassed 850 tons,” said Vice Mayor Vangelis Hatzakis, checking his latest figures. 

And, something along these lines, but on a larger scale, describes the collection efforts of recyclables in our neighboring municipalities. Naturally, the target is bigger, as well as the capabilities.

We will, however, point out that from talking with many local residents, we concluded that there is a demand for more blue bins in the Gouves municipality.

A greater number of these bins, thus making them more visible, will also act as a reminder to all considering that recycling is a new concept for many of us, until our environmental conscience becomes a daily habit.

It is easy to imagine that the same concept applied when the trash bins first came to be, not that long ago.

People needed time to get used to the idea of throwing refuse in specific places only, in receptacles, although many people still don’t seem to grasp the idea and they continue to throw their garbage everywhere, and they torture us with their disregard to common curtsey and public health.

It's bad enough their garbage is seen scattered around the bins, but one also sees their refuse on our roads, in river beds, on our mountains and our seas. 

To loudly reiterate, we need recycling and it starts from our garbage at home, which hides a veritable treasure in recyclables.

And, of course the local governments must do their bits so they can correctly oversee the entire recycling operation.

It’s a daily occurrence and it helps us and our planet.