Recycling and Being Green

It is probably front and center every day for you--if it isn't, it should be. Now my husband hates "shoulds" but I think sometimes they are imperative. There is NO reason all of us should not be conscious about recycling. I know, it can get a bit tedious, and sometimes you just have to give yourself a break. But for the most part, recycling has now become part of our day, just like brushing our teeth.

Now I am a child of the 60s. Recycling back then was not a part of our life. The only thing I remember was soda cans--you could collect them and take them to a recycling center. Funny, that is the only thing I remember attaching the word "recycling" to. There must have been early adopters, who knew what the world would be like in 20 or 30 or 40 years, but I don't think we were a family of early adopters. Now I will say my parents were always good about recycling a lot of yard debris and growing vegetables. You should see them now! But anyhow, I did no recycling when I was a kid.

I don't really even remember it as an idea until I was in my early 20s and working and one of the gals I worked with--who was about 45, decided we should all be recycling our white paper waste--and there is tons of it in offices. It was met with resistance, which is so funny! She put boxes in everyone's cubes and office and she only asked that you put your white paper there, and she would PICK it up for you (I don't know how she recycled it, I don't recall..)

So I remember that. But I don't even think then I was recycling other stuff. I know I have been recycling for about 10 years. Honestly I cannot remember before that. I guess the bins that were given to us by the trash company made it pretty damn easy! If you are not on the band wagon yet, here are some ideas/"shoulds" of what can be recycled.

1. Paper--white paper from work and home, all junk mail, newspapers, magazines (if your library or a rest home, etc. takes these, what a great way to reuse..) paper is a huge culprit of waste. I have tried to be much more conscious of it. If you don't have to print it out, please do NOT. Cancel catalogs.

2. Plastic, glass, cans--most garbage companies collect all of this. Really, how much easier does it have to be? Now our company does not pick up glass, which drives me nuts! But, in any case, every couple of weeks we take our glass to huge bins at the grocery store. I cannot even imagine throwing it out.

3. Try not to use plastic bags from the grocery store. If you do, you can return them and they will recycle them. Or use them again at the store yourself, or use them for trash at home. Do not just throw them away. I hate to say for years I did just that. A huge landfill problem!

4. Do NOT buy plastic water bottles unless you have to, and then recycle them! It is really quite easy to get your own reusable water bottle.

5. Get resuable cloth bags to use at the grocery store and other shopping. They are all the rage these days.

6. Donate clothes and other items that are in good shape that you are done with. Really, I cannot believe this even needs to be said, people actually throw their clothes and other items away instead of donating--shameful.

7. Use worn out towels and washcloths for rags around the house.

8. Recycle printer cartridges. I also used to not do this. It is so easy now, many manufacturers enclose a return postage paid envelope in the box--doesn't get much simpler!

9. Recycle cell phones--donate them to a cause--a terrific gift to someone and they are all over every town--domestic abuse centers, phones for soldiers, etc..

10. Buy energy efficient bulbs. They have an amazing life. They are a bit ugly,so if I can see them, like in nice lamp, then I still won't use them. But there are plenty of lights at home they can go in. My power company even sent 6 out to each customer--doesn't get much easier than that!

11. Use less power! Don't turn all the lights on. Turn down the heater. Try to live without AC--I hate AC. Get some fans instead.

12. Buy local food. My daughter is all about this, and she really is right. This is taking time, but catching on all the time.

13. Walk when you can. Tough to do, but such a big win.

14. Use less water. Just turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth is a huge win.Run the dishwasher every other day. Save up laundry.

15. Recycle computer batteries and cell phone batteries, and other electronics--find a place that takes them. Do not throw any electronic waste out--BAD.

Again, it is all around us all day long, so jump in and think about what you are using, what you can reduce, what you can recycle, what you can do without, what you can teach others. Our earth is suffering from all the garbage we have created. What is must have been like, even 100 years ago..