10.13.09
The Recycling Lifestyle
What a learning experience I have got myself into! I still have a long way to go but I do feel that in just a couple weeks I have moved from a non-recycler to a recycler. I am no longer part of the two thirds of Americans that do not recycle. I continue reusing the items I have a second use for, take unneeded items to the thrift store and I recycle the things I can. I did follow up on the last blog post and went the next day searching for places to drop off items to recycle. I have also joined a nearby (sixty miles) Freecycle group that swaps or gives away items that are still useful.
What I found was that I can recycle batteries and certain metals in a town about twenty miles from where we live. I can drop off paper, magazines, cardboard, plastic bottles (numbers one and two), cans, and plastic bags in another city sixty miles away. Then there is another city about fifty miles away where I can drop off glass, phone books, cell phones, ink & toner cartridges, other e-waste including computers, monitors, printers, peripherals and other plug-in electronics. But I cannot drop off all these recyclables in one city. Well, so much for it being easy for someone in a rural area. Or in this case, for those in these cities with items that cannot be recycled due to no vendor.
Another downside that I ran into is that the vendor who was at one time taking plastics (numbers three through seven) is no longer doing that for the SE, USA. This leaves these types of plastics with no place to go but the landfill. These plastics include containers like yogurt cups, cottage cheese containers and many more plastic items. That is a bummer big time. Right now these plastics make up most of the trash in my trash can.
However, there is a good side to this story. I set up several containers after I found out what I could recycle and where to take it. I have one container for all types of paper, being careful to shred any personal information. Another container is for all types of cans, after rinsing them out. Beside it is the plastic container which includes not just grocery bags, but bread and roll bags, plastic wrapping from other food items, soda and milk bottles, without the tops and rinsed out, and even some medicine bottles are the right numbers (one or two). I was amazed at the number of different plastic items that ended up in the recycle bin. I also have a container for cardboard and bottles.
Some may think that it is just too much trouble with the miles to travel, keeping up with what city takes what, rinsing out the cans so no food traces remain, looking for the numbers on the plastics, removing tops off the bottles, etc. But the main stumbling block to overcome in the beginning is the attitude and deciding that recycling is a good and even necessary habit to develop. Eventually I expect it to become a lifestyle. The attitude I had at the beginning of all this had to do with acknowledging that each person (me and you) leaves a carbon footprint every day we live. My footprint will grow bigger and multiply if I do not teach my children and grandchildren that they also are leaving a print and need to do something about it. I cannot just tell them, I have to be an example. We adults have to be as responsible as we can be.
I can already tell it is something that is staying more on my mind as I cook or unwrap something. I don’t just turn to the trash can, but stop and think where does this go? As I run across different plastic containers, it’s becoming like a game to determine what number is assigned to the container and if I can recycle it or not. I feel a sense of, “Yes!”, when I’m able to throw it in the recycle bin and a sense of “dog gone it”, when I lose and have to throw it in the trash. There is a satisfying feeling to it, even though at times it does take more energy to recycle than to just throw something in the trash can.
Did you hear the report on Public Radio a few days ago that the atmosphere is 10% better off today than it has been in forty or so years? Given the economy with factory and plant closings, fewer cars on the roads, etc., there is less pollution going up that creates havoc in the atmosphere. It’s sad that it takes a major recession/depression to bring about a 10% improvement.
We as a nation can do better. We as individuals can do better. If you haven’t joined in the recycling effort, go ahead and take that first recycling footstep rather than leave that big dark carbon footprint.
My next step besides maintaining the recycling effort is to look at more of the companies I do business with. Who are they and what are they doing for the environment? I’m also allowing the idea to run around in my mind about writing the powers that be about what can be done for the rural recycler around our nation’s countryside? While I combine trips to these three cities and drop off my recyclables while I’m there for other reasons, it would be great if the rural recycler had more options. It doesn’t hurt to ask!
In the mean time, I’ll follow the advice of Mother Teresa, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” Each house doing their own recycling effort, parents teaching their children or in some cases children are teaching their parents, each household recycling on their own. I can’t fathom how much positive change this would make in our economy and environment. From money saved by companies producing products and passing the savings on to the customer; to creating new and clean energy resources and many other advantages most Americans cannot imagine. Recycling changes our individual lifestyle and thereby changes our nation’s lifestyle big time.
SO, COME JOIN ME. IT’S OUR ONLY EARTH!
