The need to recycle is universal, spanning across country borders and over oceans. So too is the movement of populations, and, therefore, the spread of languages around the world.

Europe is one of the most idiomatically diverse regions in the world. The European Union, for instance, has 23 official languages, and is adding more all the time.* Because of the close proximity of countries whose citizens speak different languages, in any European nation there are bound to be huge minorities of people who don’t speak the country’s official dialect.

Despite the mixture of languages, all people should be able to use a country’s recycling system, right? Throughout Europe, nations employ different methods to make the instructions on recycling bins comprehensible to a multilingual society.

Some countries, like Italy, label their bins in the languages most commonly spoken in the area. This method is popular in nations where there are only a few predominate idioms.

Italian bin labeled in Italian and English.

Simply labeling bins in multiple languages becomes a problem, however, when a country’s population consists of people who speak many different idioms. Therefore, in an effort to make recycling bins comprehensible to people of varying dialects, countries often use images in addition to words.

Both words and images are used on English recycling bins.

While many countries prefer to have some written language on their recycling bins, using images is widely recognized as the easiest method to get information across to heterogeneous societies. For this reason, some countries do away with words all together and rely completely on pictures to label their bins.

This recycling bin at a French Airport uses only images.

At Three Squares Inc., we, too, pay close attention to how we label our recycling, compost, and landfill bins at events. While our signs use language to describe what should go in the respective bins, they also include pictures of what can and cannot be thrown away in them. These images not only help people visualize what they should put in what bin, but they also assure that all people, no matter their favored language, are able to effectively do their part to conserve resources and contribute to sustainability initiatives worldwide!

The effects of climate change will be felt by all people, so shouldn’t everyone have the ability to protect the environment and reduce waste? People in every country use goods made of materials that can, and should, be reused. By making recycling accessible to everyone, we can collectively make a positive impact on our planet and decrease our reliance on nonrenewable resources.

*Source Cited:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/index_en.htm