Our faithful reader Gretchen Newman of the Washington Department of Ecology has sent us some pictures from her recent 3-week trip to Chile. She was visiting her daughter’s family and traveling to the south and the east.

Here’s what she found:

I found these clean, well-advertised recycling bins in a park overlooking Santiago called Cerro San Cristobal. They accept cans, glass, plastics and “others” which includes paper products, textiles and probably just about anything remotely reusable. These bins are new since I lived there in the 1990’s. Most of the recycling collection in Chile is still done by individuals or families who walk the streets at night with push carts going through the trash for anything recyclable or reusable. Santiago has a bad air pollution problem, ranking as one of the most polluted cities in the world. The smog was light that day.

This country cider mill in the south of Chile, near Valdivia, was washing out old pisco bottles by hand for reuse as cider bottles.

The only other organized recycling collection that I observed, was these large bell-shaped bins for glass collection in the metropolitan areas. They are placed by CODEFF, a Chilean member-run environmental organization (National Committee for Defense of the Flora and Fauna). This one is in Valparaiso, on new-years day, full to the brim with wine and champagne bottles from the night before. Valparaiso is world-renowned as a new-years eve destination, for the parties, great views and fireworks. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo a Todos!

Thanks Ellen Cunningham for sending us this cute picture of her sister’s work!

Wouldn’t it be great if some of the smaller towns in Washington could have recycling sheds like the one in Hancock, N.H.? My sister-in-law, Kim Cunningham, has a new mission in life - to rescue stuff in the recycling shed and turn it into art. Unlike the San Francisco artists, who apply for the position, are paid, etc. Kim, who is a full-time artist, does this for fun! She has created dozens of art pieces, most of which can be displayed on the wall. The recycling shed is open 12 hours a week and volunteers are there to screen the in-coming stuff. In a newspaper article about Kim, she noted that dump-goers enjoy discovering that things they had taken to the recycling shed or scrap pile were being put to good use. Here is a dump art project she designed for my horse-loving daughter.