Recycling- an easy way to do a lot!

I thought in this day and age that recycling was a given. People did it because it's the right thing to do. Obviously this isn't the case. While it is, in most places, a readily available way to help reduce landfill waste and use of natural resources, not many people do it. Case in point: at work only recently did someone take the initiative to put a recycle box up. It's self-managed, basically meaning the company does nothing (and why doesn't it?) and people STILL throw away bottles and cans when the recycling box is not more than 4 feet away from the trash can. WHAT??

Recycling isn't a difficult thing to do. Many places provide recycle bins for bottles, plastic, and cans now. Airports even have them nicely divided for your convenience. Do you still bypass the recycle bin just to throw something in the waste bin? Do you even pay attention to what you do with your bottles? If they weren't readily available, would it truly be that difficult to bring a bottle or can home to place it in your own recycle bin?

In many states they even provide a cash incentive for people to recycle. A cash redemption value. This works by having people pay a small per can/bottle fee when they buy the items so that other people can redeem some cash by turning the can or bottle in for recycling. It's actually a nice system. And since not everyone recycles what they buy, it does end up having some left over money to go to other recycling endeavors. Recycling DOES cost money. Either you the consumer must pay it in your trash service pick up fees, or you pay it by CRVs or even local taxes.

Is it worth it? There are probably a few that say no, but in reality it does greatly reduce the amount of stuff that needs to collect in a landfill. You may not think that you alone contribute any noticeable amount to how much accumulates in waste but you'd be surprised. Even so, if you had 1 12-pack a week that's over 600 cans in a year. That does add up. Plus bottles for juices, teas, water, milk jugs, wine bottles, beer cans/bottles, plastic containers from yogurt, margarine, peanut butter, etc. It starts to add up to an impressive amount for just ONE person.

Have you heard about certain places banning plastic bottles or even plastic bags? Sounds absurd, right? It's true. San Francisco passed a law several years ago banning plastic bottles. People simply don't recycle enough and MILLIONS get thrown into waste every year. Cans and glass bottles are also more easily recycled. Plastic has a more finite ability to be recycled as the grade/quality is reduced every time it is reused.

Also, not everything is recyclable. And what IS recyclable may not be the same everywhere- depending on what they're set up to accept and use. Some places have presorting of trash so that you don't have to recycle. This is nice, but it does cost time and money. Most places you have to sort it yourself. There are usually guidelines about what you can add and how.

Did you know?

• Plastic containers MUST be cleaned/rinsed out
• Lids must be removed. Often times the lids are not recycled
• Labels should be removed if possible.
  
• Some places want cans crushed. Others do not.
• Plastic bags may need to be taken to a recycle bin at a grocery store- your home pick up may not be able to use them.
• Glass bottles must be clean/rinsed out with lids removed as well.
• Many trash services will pick up cardboard boxes but does NOT mean they are recycled. In Reno, NV they are NOT.
• Pizza boxes, or other items contaminated with food that cannot be cleaned, are not recyclable.
  
• Check with your local trash service to see what their requirements are, and what types of materials they take.
  

Interesting links to recycling information:

• Container Recycling Institute - great statistics on recycling
  
• Recycling in Reno, NV
• Wait! Are you Sure That's Recyclable?- interesting article on what can and can't be recycled in most cases.
  
• San Francisco Bans Plastic Shopping Bags- sure, they're a little radical, but way off base? Maybe not.

It angers me to see how many people overlook recycling or even bad mouth it as some sort of conspiracy or left-winged hoax to get everyone all bent out of shape about using up natural resources. I'm anything BUT left-winged but I do know that we, Americans in particular, are an exceptionally wasteful society and anything we can do to reduce the strain we place on natural resources (including space to store the crap we don't want) is always a good thing. Recycling is easy. It doesn't take a lot of extra time to do. It saves a lot in the long run, and there aren't really that many good reasons (if any) to NOT do it.

What are you waiting for?