It kills me to look at the trash can here in the Teeny Apartment. On Earth Hour day.

I see a section of my newspaper that I just finished reading. It is jammed in a spot right next to the plastic bottle that held a half-liter of grapefruit just. And just below it is the aluminum can of Diet 7-Up that I had about two hours ago.

In many places in the world, I could and would sort that stuff and pitch it into an appropriate recycling bin.

But here?

We’re just beginning to grapple with the concept of recycling, in the UAE.

Here in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, a few neighborhoods have been selected as test sites for recycling. Homes there get two big trash cans, one for basic recyclables (paper, aluminum, plastic) and one for everything else.

Just getting people used to the idea. A few people. Turns out, that is about all it is, because (it seems) most of the recyclables are still ending up in the same landfills out in the Abu Dhabi desert. They don’t have a way to sort the easy recyclables yet. So, people use the bins, and then it all goes in the same dump. Hmm.

Meanwhile, the rest of us … just wince as we take out another plastic bag of trash … with things that in California would have a redemption value. Well, actually, the wincers would be the minority of Westerners who are a few years ahead on this topic; most everyone else … trash is trash, right?

In this neighborhood, it all goes in the little dumpster out at the entrance to the street. The one a few apartment houses seem to fill to the brim every day. So it’s a good thing the trash guys come and empty it … every day.

Earth Hour, at 8:30 p.m., was celebrated here by turning off the lights of some of the biggest buildings in the country, most of them in Dubai — the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in particular.

Other than that, though, we’re still blowing through paper and plastic and aluminum.

I’m not the greenest guy around, but I can sort that stuff. And have for years.

I would like to get the chance to do it here.