To Burn or to Bury?

Recently, Juju and I had a disagreement. It was over a small thing - a plastic bag thrown in the garbage rather than in the recycling bin. Obviously, there were some other underlying tensions prompting a rather violent reaction to my misplacement of the trash, but I found it an interesting example of the small, often imperceptible adjustments we have had to make since I arrived here.

Usually I don't blog about the day-to-day, sticking to story-telling about big events. But I feel the need to vent a little and point out that moving in with a new family (or boyfriend or even roommate, for that matter) requires concessions on such a minute level, they might never have occurred to you if you weren't being forced to make them right now.

The issue of my putting certain kinds of plastic in the garbage is the result of differing environmental perspectives. Juju thinks it better to send all plastic to the recycling plant where they will incinerate anything they can't use. Personally, the thought of plumes of toxic plastic smoke being sent out from a plant makes me queasy. I'd rather send my unrecyclables to a landfill where they can sit in tact for eons causing no harm other than being in the way.

After our argument I was so confused about how I should react - should I acquiesce and go against my own beliefs because Juju "pays the bills around here?" Or should I explain my stance? After doing some research about burning vs. burying plastic, I guess both options have an equal number of pros and cons. In the interest of conflict avoidance, I'm going to go along with Juju's recycling rules.

Just one of many trivial matters that became a surprisingly big deal in our attempt at co-habitation.