Sometimes Recycling is Not a Good Thing

The day before yesterday I returned to the Google SF office after a long hiatus to have lunch with an old co-worker. The views of the Bay Bridge and Embarcadero were spectacular even from the 4th floor dining hall at the new Google offices. Of course, at the end of our meal, we bussed our own trays and separated trash into the 2 or 3 containers that are ubiquitous at Google: organic waste, inorganic waste, and plastic/aluminum recycling. It's awesome that Google does this, my post here has nothing to do with Google's recycling program. When I left the offices and walked down Spear towards Justin Herman Plaza to meet my friend, Keenan, for a basque and chat I noticed my inspiration for this post.

An older homeless woman was carting her belongings down Spear away from Market Street right around the One Market building. All along that sidewalk there are nouveau-stylish trashcan-cum-cigarette-repository where you can trash your cigarette butts in a small sea of black sand. Despite my horrifically embellished description of these trash cans, you know what I'm talking about, you've seen these around the mall, downtown, etc. This woman proceeds to the trashcan, my immediate hunch is to dumpster dive for recyclables: cans, discarded-but-edible-food, trashed keepsakes, whatever. However, she instead carefully searches among the discarded cigarette butts, looking for one perhaps discarded a little prematurely, a longer, less crinkled cancer stick. With her trusty lighter by her side, she finds the best of the lot and lights the discarded cigarette up. Put simply, a harmful case of recycling/reusing.