Chile has a trash issue. There’s a lot dumping in public places, especially along highways and in the outskirts of town.
Looking beyond the obvious issue though, I see where Chileans outpace Americans in their elimination of single use plastics, reduction in packaging waste, and reduction in plastic bottles. For example, sodas are primarily sold in two liter bottles. There aren’t rows and rows of 12 oz bottles and cans. Also, you have to bring your reusable grocery bags to the store or pay for paper ones. At quick food restaurants, utensils are wooden, not plastic.
The latest observation is regarding printers. We had to purchase a printer for the house. I discovered most options on the market don’t use traditional inkjet cartridges ubiquitous in U.S. household printers. Instead, the printers use ink tanks with a single set of cartridges. This reduces the need to waste or recycle the unique cartridges. Instead, you refill the ink color tanks with ink, leaving just a small recyclable bottle.
My first assumption was that handling ink and filling would be a disaster. It was a breeze, thanks in large part to an incredible user experience from HP. Directions were easy to follow, the bottles held exactly the amount of ink needed, and a special nozzle eliminated spills. On top of this, one fill up is enough ink for 8,000 color pages and 12,000 black and white pages. A typical inkjet cartridge in the US can print 250 pages. That’s a huge difference, and it will provide not only conservation of waste, but also conservation of time, energy, and gas.
Added bonus, this printer costs $180 USD, and there was a $120 option as well. In the US, I couldn’t find an HP Smart Tank for less than $350. It’s almost like they want us buying all those ink cartridges….
It will be interesting to see if these Chilean practices will change your own conservation efforts when you return home.