These days everyone is starting to talk about how all of us can make our households more “green”, but sometimes it is really hard to change our everyday routines. We have become so used to just throwing everything in a trash can that it can seem like a monumental task to start recycling. There are still a huge amount of households that don’t do anything, so here are some simple suggestions for setting up a basic recycling program in your home.
Find out what items your local trash collection company accepts for recycling. Most companies have this information on their websites, and be aware; you will have to study the rules for figuring out what types of plastic bottles are acceptable. This is the only slightly complicated part because some plastic bottles are not acceptable.
If you live in a more rural area and you have no organized program, find out where the closest place is that will take recyclables. For example, in my rural area, only aluminum cans are accepted, so every few weeks when I venture into the city for shopping or appointments, I take everything else to a recycling center for drop off.
Find a convenient place in your home to store your recyclables until pickup day arrives. Whether it is the garage, an outside storage area, etc… figure out a place that these items can be kept out of the way.
Some trash collection companies will provide you with the containers for the items, but if they don’t, find containers to place items in after use such as an old trash can or box. I use a small old trash can that I keep in my laundry room so that I can toss cans, plastic bottles, and glass jars in quickly. Then every few days when it is full, I transfer the items to a larger trash can which I have lined with a large plastic trash bag. The recycling center I use does not require any sorting of cans, plastic or glass, so I do not need to worry about having multiple containers. Some centers require sorting, so be sure to find that out before you start. I use an old box for newspapers which makes it easy for me to load into my car when I take everything to the recycling center.
This takes care of cans, bottles, and glass containers, but what about other items? I recently started recycling cardboard of any kind. The recycling center I take items to has taken cardboard for a while now, so I found an old medium sized box and I now recycle egg cartons, soda can boxes, every kind of box that food comes in like cereal boxes etc…, so this really reduces the amount of trash that is throw away.
If you have not yet begun recycling, now is a great time to get started. If you start small with just a few items and gradually begin training yourself to stop throwing these items in the trash, the process will get much easier as time goes by. Just a few items goes along way to adopting a greener lifestyle. Then when you have master a few items, add in more items and really start thinking about everything you throw in the trash. You will be amazed at how much you really can recycle and how easy it will become for your household.
Other items that can be recycled are magazines, catalogs, return envelopes for bills, and regular office paper. The list is becoming fairly large, so consider everything before you throw it away. Electronic items are especially important to recycle, so please find out where these items can be accepted instead of just tossing them into the trash. Communities are now holding electronic recycling drives every so often, so save that computer, cell phone, TV, printer, etc… for these drives. After a few weeks of practice, you will be sending less trash to the landfill and more items to the recycling center and you will be a part of the “green” revolution!
