Recycling has always been something I have taken part in, but mainly because my mom insists we put the coke cans in the bin and not the trash. I really never thought about how much we probably waste until this past summer in China. We were over there for the 2008 Olympics, and in the athlete cafeteria every trash station had one or two attendants who we thought basically watched us throw stuff away. Just the opposite, these attendants stood there to make sure anything that could be recycled went into the recycling can, and that the food and other waste went into the trash can. If something that was recyclable went into the trash, they got this look on their face, like “oh boy we messed up.” It was interesting for me to see, that in sports biggest stage, the host country was putting an emphasis on recycling. After a few meals, I started sorting my trash before we even got up to leave the table.