One of the issues facing Azerbaijan as they continue to transition from Soviet rule is the environment. This includes the pollution and contamination from the massive factories (some of which are still in use) as well as establishing the infrastructure for trash removal. Following is a conversation that I had with an Azerbaijani last week while walking in Ucar. She had just finished a snack and threw the wrapper (about the size of a small chip bag) on the side of the road.
Me: Why did you just throw that wrapper on the ground?
Her: Because there’s no trash can here.
Me: What do you with your trash at home?
Her: I put it in the trash can.
In my mind, I would put the wrapper in my pocket and throw it away when I got home. I can’t say if this is an overall Azerbaijani perspective because I only had this conversation with one person, but there is a lot of trash around. Some areas are very clean and I’ve seen a garbage truck picking up trash on a daily basis; however, I’ve also seen people throwing trash into a pile which has been here since I moved. So I don’t know if the basic infrastructure of trash removal is in place and it has yet to progress beyond its current stage, or if people just choose to ignore it. And while this is not something that I can change on my own, hopefully I made the person I was walking with think about her actions and how it affects the area around her…
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