Post Tagged with "Europe"

Recycling in Turkey

When PocketCultures contributor Nargiza was in Istanbul airport recently, she snapped this photo of separated bins for recycling waste.

Sights like this are quite new in Turkey. But in comparison to other European countries Turkey recycles many more things in an ‘informal’ manner.

In Turkey, if something can be re-used, chances are it will be: the eskici passes in front of my house at least once per week to collect unwanted furniture, broken electronic goods and anything else that isn’t needed any more; another man patiently combs through rubbish bins to salvage empty plastic bottles; a neighbour takes away all my empty glass jars to fill with home-made pickles and sauces.

The overall volume of rubbish that actually gets sent to landfills is much lower than in many other countries in which I’ve lived.

The eskici passes regularly to collect unwanted goods

Official figures confirm this observation. In 2008 (the latest year for which measurements are available) Turkey produced 428kg municipal waste per inhabitant per year, which is lower than every country in the EU-15.

For comparison, Sweden produced 515kg per capita, UK produced 565kg per capita, and Spain produced 575kg per capita. The ‘winner’ is Denmark, which produced 802kg of waste per person. (Source: European Environment Agency)

Maybe the most interesting answer is one I received from the local council in the town where I live.

According to them, the local government does not need an official recycling programme. Instead private companies compete for permission to collect waste for recycling, because it is so profitable.

 

Read more

Organic recycling in Indonesia
How to reduce emissions without reducing growth
Tulip: symbol of abundance, indulgence and Istanbul

Italian food lover in California

I found Simona’s blog while making a Google search to find out what lenticchie Castelluccio are. She’s an Italian living in California and describes Briciole (crumbs) as “An idiosyncratic and opinionated dictionary of Italian words related to food, with audio accompaniment – and recipes”.

Briciole is both cookery blog and guide to Italian language and customs related to food. For example this post, which touches on the difference between Italian biscotti, American cookies and English biscuits.

There’s also advice on how to track down Italian ingredients in California (including the lentils I was after). For Italian speakers, some posts are in both languages.

Read more:
Blogs from Italy
The cappuccino rule: fact or fiction?
Why Italians don’t use a bath towel

Crowns, flowers and 30 loaves: Festa dos Tabuleiros in Portugal

The Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) is one of the most important celebrations in Portugal. It takes place every four years, during the months of June or July, in Tomar, the city of the Templars, located in the centre of Portugal. These celebrations are also known as the Festa do Espírito Santo (Holy Spirit Celebration). I was there for the first and only time in 2007, four months before I came to live in The Netherlands.

Streets of Tomar, decorated for the festival

The festival takes its name from the trays carried during the final procession. It originated during the rule of the Farmer King, Dom Dinis and his wife, Queen Saint Isabel. During their reign the Portuguese borders were defined with Tratado de Alcanices (1297), Portuguese language became the State official language (in 1290), the first Portuguese University was founded and agriculture, culture, the arts and poor people were well protected.

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Midsummer Night Eve in Finland: photo essay

Finland, the land of the midnight sun, celebrates the arrival of Summer after a long, dark winter. Our Flickr group contributor Irmeli Armo, aka Connectlrmeli, shared some stunning photos of Midsummer’s Night Eve in that Nordic country. Thank you, Irmeli!

View of Helsinki right after midnight. The sun sets at 10.50 PM and rises at 3.56 AM in the southern coast. It goes from dusk into dawn.

Credit

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Portugal’s Young Fado Generation

…with these words and her amazing voice, the 22 year old Dulce Pontes caught our hearts singing Lusitana Paixão (Lusitana Passion), a song about our typical music, Fado, at the Portugal Eurovision Song Contest in 1991. After her, a new generation has come…
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Crouching tiger, hidden dragon?

For the last four years, I’ve been able to witness the descent of Ireland from self-proclaimed boom country (or “Celtic Tiger“) to one of the most indebted countries in Europe. But does economic downturn mean also a cultural downturn?

When I came to Dublin in 2007, I was expecting the city to be comparable to my hometown Cologne. It has the same size, the same small and well-arranged city center and I was expecting a plethora of indie clubs, alternative stores and a vibrant cultural scene. I was disappointed. It seemed people were only focussing on spending a fortune at HMV, going to the movies very often and drink colourful longdrinks in shiny new bars mostly frequented by bankers and solicitors. I did find a couple of places and areas with an alternative touch, but these were few and far between.

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