Why “Think Globally, Act Locally,” is a Useful Concept

My global business mastermind group celebrated our one-year anniversary in July 2021. We are all entrepreneurs who offer services and training programs to businesses.

The members hail from five continents and together speak at least a dozen languages. English is still the international language of business, though. In one weekly mastermind group call, a few people started conversing in Mandarin. Another time, some of us chatted in Spanish. In both cases, we reverted to English so everyone could understand.

Our weekly video calls cover eight time zones, with people joining in from the following countries:

• Brazil

• Canada

• England

• Ireland

• Malaysia

• Romania

• United States

• Zimbabwe

At times, I am still amazed that I have built relationships with people from so far away. We have shared details about our businesses and our lives. And I have broadened my perspective beyond the US-centric viewpoint that has been my reality—and that of many Americans—for decades.

I wrote Rethink the Bins for an American audience. The examples and resources are all from cities in the US. I limited my reach on purpose. Policies vary enough throughout the US. I decided it would take too long to research the situation in other countries.

In Chapter 1, I describe what happens to your trash and recycling bins once they leave your curb or building. As I’ve talked to people from around the world, I’ve learned a few examples of where my assumptions and explanations don’t apply.

Spain

Pre-pandemic, I held an in-person recycling workshop in Seattle. When I started talking about curbside pickup, one participant interrupted.

“What do you mean, curbside?”

It surprised me that he didn’t know the term, but I explained, “It’s when the garbage and recycling trucks drive by and pick up household waste from the curb in front of your house.”

This man was visiting from Spain. In the city where he lived, there was no such thing as curbside pickup. Residents had to bring their trash and recyclables to a central location in his neighborhood. I’m guessing that situation is not uncommon. There are probably even rural parts of the US where residents don’t benefit from curbside trash pickup.

Hong Kong

I often promote composting of food waste as a way to avoid filling up landfills and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. While I know that few cities offer curbside collection of food scraps in a yard waste bin, I still recommend home composting.

The topic of compostable packaging came up on a call with a company in Hong Kong. Such packaging is sold there, but it ends up in a landfill. It reminds me of the situation on the big island of Hawaii. In both cases, there are no industrial composting facilities on the island that accept food packaging.

But unlike in Hawaii, in Hong Kong there is no incentive to build industrial composting facilities. Hong Kong imports most of its food. Without local agriculture, there is no use for massive quantities of compost. I’m not sure if there is a suitable solution beyond encouraging residents and business owners to buy only as much food as they can consume.

Malaysia

Most Americans don’t know anyone in Malaysia and probably couldn’t even locate the country on a map. But thanks to my mastermind group and connections I have built on LinkedIn, I’ve talked with several people who live in Malaysia. They are working to encourage more reuse and less waste but face many obstacles.

My fellow mastermind group entrepreneur shared a cartoon from her local news website. It shows a person standing on an island labeled “Malaysia” and a huge scoop marked “US” pouring out a stream of junk from above. She translated the caption as, “Expecting foreign investment. What came is foreign garbage.” Her take is that it is sometimes hard to care about where she tosses her recyclables when other countries are still dumping tons of waste into Malaysia every day.

China pulled the plug in 2018 and stopped buying bales of possibly recyclable materials from North America and Europe. Several more countries in Southeast Asia did the same. But as my friend in Malaysia noted, some countries are still being treated as dumping grounds.

I don’t have all the answers. But I do believe that a combination of global awareness and local action will help address some of the problems we all face.