For Beginners, Recycling 101

I know you think that recycling is such a pain in the rump, (I’m cleaning up my language). But really it’s not that hard. You start with one thing a week and before long, you’ll have quite a program going.

For example:   Clean out your closet. I know, that in itself is not small, but if you donate your stuff, YOU RECYCLED! ( and it’s tax deductible) Next week:  Look for another container to sort your trash. We used/recycled an old dog food can, (because the recycle bin the city gave us doesn’t fit in our pantry). It’s in our pantry next to the trash can and we can’t help but see it every time we throw something away. We’ve had as much as 4 bins of recycling going out a week, with very little real trash going to the landfill. What did we use for the other 3  you ask? Well, it seemed like we moved about every 2 years, for 8 years.

I thought instead of buying boxes, we would buy those plastic tubs to move the stuff we would pack in boxes. When not in use they stack well in very little space and if anyone moved, ie, daughter, son, in-laws, they could use them. So, we used 3 of them, on a very heavy week for recycled goods. On average, we use a total of 2 buckets and one tall kitchen trash bag, on Mondays and some times, no trash at all on the 2nd trash pick-up day.

Another thing you could try is to use your bath towel more than once. I can tell you I’m really funny about bodily stuff. When we first started to do this, sometimes my towel wouldn’t be dry and I just couldn’t stand it. To me, if it was still wet, it was dirty. I know it wasn’t dirty, after all, you used it to dry off a clean body (I hope). But if you hang your towel up  so it will dry, it doesn’t bother me at all. Plus, you’ll save on water/detergent/electricity doing laundry. Yes I really mean laundry,dirty clothes, you know. BUT DON’T REUSE YOUR SOCKS OR UNDERWEAR! If you are doing that, you have definitly taken recycling too far.

As others have mentioned, buying water bottles is so convenient, but so is buying a reusable bottle and filling it up. If you drink a lot of water, buy more than one or a bigger bottle. We still have bottles of water in our fridge that we bought months ago. Even though we recycle, we won’t use them. I don’t know why? We recycle right, but if people don’t buy them anymore, then the energy spent recycling them is lower. How about that? You’ll save now on both ends. Not just at your house, but now at the plant that has to recycle those bottles.

If you get the newspaper, did you know you can use it for weed control in your gardens? Yep! Just clear away the mulch, if you have any left, and lay down the papers. You don’t even have to pull the weeds first. Just use about 6 pages, laid out, one on top of the other, over the weed area, cover with mulch and you’re done. The paper will decompose after a couple of years, and enriches the soil. How’s that? Pretty cool, huh?

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