Letter from Melbourne

摘要

As the winter chills have us in their grip,the recycling game is warming up in Melbourne.Until now,an important contribution to the recycling of domestic waste has been made by householders who separate their waste into several streams.In my municipality,there is a weekly clearance of general garbage,while the green waste and the recyclable material bins are emptied on alternate weeks.There is a published schedule,but fortunately the bin tops are colour coded - green and yellow respectively - so I only have to watch what the neighbours are up to.I'm not the only one that does this,apparently,because one week I acted early but put the wrong bin out,with the result that there was a mixture of green and yellow bins up and down the street.