recycle

I’ve been collecting aluminum cans for a couple of weeks, now. Found a website called ecycler.com that might just work! Site says: “ecycler is a new way to recycle. ecycler brings together people giving away recyclables and those interested in collecting them.” Sounds great! I’ll report back in a week.

I really became conscious of recycling while at my former workplace one day when I noticed my boss throwing away the Sunday newspaper. A light bulb seemed to go off inside my head; all that paper being thrown away seemed like such a waste! I grabbed it out of the trash, and from then on I took each day’s newspaper with me and dropped it off at a recycling center on my way home from work. Now, at home, I also save cans, bottles, junk mail, plastic bags, etc. and drop them off at a recycling center once a week. My county has a website that lists locations of pick-up centers and what each location accepts. (Most counties or cities have these websites.) It’s so easy to start recycling; you become aware almost immediately, say, when you finish a can of soda, not to toss it in the garbage but instead to rinse it out and put it in a separate bag to take to a recycling bin. I’ve become so into it that if I’m not sure if something can be recycled I call the company to ask! (Surprisingly, cigarette packs are recyclable; the boxes alone can go in with mixed paper.) I also cut down on waste by using tote bags to shop, walking to stores and other places close-by instead of driving, buying locally grown and/or organic (pesticide-free) produce when possible, using energy-efficient light bulbs, refilling water bottles to get more than one use out of them, and donating magazines to the library when I’m done reading them. It feels good to know you are playing a role, however small it may be, in helping to save our planet. And it’s cool to see products made of recycled materials: I bought an awesome, very comfortable shirt made mostly of recycled brown beer bottles (the rest is organic cotton), and I have a couple bracelets with beautifully colored beads that look like glass but are actually hand-made of recycled paper (with recycled plastic as a coating)! Recycling is now such an integral part of my everyday lifestyle that I don’t really have to consciously think about it anymore; it’s kind of just automatic. And even though I’m just one person, knowing I’m making some amount of difference really does make me feel good!

I added this goal just to add this site. Im not a huge fan of Nike but they get points for this:

http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

Today, I researched the recycling centers in our area, as we do not have curb-side service. I found centers for everything!

Gonna get the girls dressed, an then I think we’ll grab the bags an head to the recycling center and drop em off! Then, I will have officially completed this goal! Yahoo!

I’ve been saying I was gonna take my old clothes and Donate them to charity for YEARS now, and never have, until today! I bagged up a bunch old stuff I’ll never wear that was just taking up space, and dropped them off at the drop off box just after I picked the girls up from their mom today. So, at least I’ve done that. It’s a start. Next, I have to take these bags of trash to the recycling center. I have them separated, and the cans are getting full, so it’s just a matter of taking them down there and this goal will be complete. I will officially not only have recycled, but also put in place the mechanisms to allow me to continue to do so for years and years, and that makes me very happy. :)

I’ve always wanted to be a true recycler. I’ve never taken the time to organize a place to do it, so I’m making it a goal. I’ve started with aluminum cans.

Or so Kermit would have us believe, lol. Actually, I’m thinking this one is gonna be pretty easy after all. I drive by the new(ish) recycling center in my town pretty much on a daily basis, so I thnk I’m just gonna pick up a couple of different colored garbage cans and label them paper, plastic, etc., and then just drop them off once a week or so on my way to work. Really, the biggest obstacle is going to be going and getting the cans, which I really don’t think will be difficult at all. Now if I can just avoid Miss Piggy while doing it…..

I was walking home and I noticed that someone’s garbage can was just full of recyclable aluminum cans! So, I took the cans and crushed them! There was 125 cans all together! I can even take those in and get paid for them! :)

The first time I heard about Global Warming and how to stop it I’ve been working as hard as I can to recycle and clean polluted areas.