Class 12 English Unit 8 Human Culture

Yes, I would certainly have collected articles from the sodaigomi pile if I happen to live in Japan someday. I live in a developing country where people traditionally only buy new things after the old ones get completely damaged and are absolutely unable to function properly. Therefore, living in a Japanese culture and strictly following the wasteful aspect of the sodaigomi tradition is simply not of my kind.

It is financially and mentally painful to go from a world where one has to struggle to buy basic goods, to one in which we didn’t have any household goods, couldn’t bring ourselves to buy the massively overpriced new ones in the store—and then saw heaps of perfectly clean, new-looking merchandise just sitting abandoned on the street. By quietly picking up discarded but functional items from sodaigomi, I would save a tremendous amount of money and would still live a highly comfortable life. So, definitely, I will collect usable articles from sodaigomi instead of wasting money going for new ones.

Some modern consumers love buying and selling second-hand items due to clear cost-effectiveness, as well as distinct ethical and environmental benefits. But unfortunately, many of the people in Nepal are not much interested in them due to social stigma or fears of poor quality. So to effectively encourage second-hand shopping in Nepal, the following strategic practices should be actively considered:

3Rs – Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

The foundational principle of reducing waste, reusing functional materials, and recycling old resources and products is often universally called the “3Rs.” Basically, it is a highly effective sequence of steps on how to manage global and local waste properly. Reducing means consciously choosing to use things with extreme care to fundamentally reduce the raw amount of waste generated at the source. Reusing involves the repeated, creative use of items or specific parts of items which still retain highly usable aspects, such as using glass jars for storage. Recycling means the intensive industrial use of the waste itself as new raw resources to manufacture new products. The three R’s all work synergistically to cut down drastically on the massive amount of garbage we throw away daily. They actively conserve fragile natural resources, save limited landfill space, and preserve energy. Plus, the three R’s save valuable community land and public tax money that municipalities must otherwise use to dispose of toxic waste in sprawling landfills. Siting a new landfill has become increasingly difficult and far more expensive globally due to strict environmental regulations and fierce public opposition, making the 3Rs more vital than ever.