Does your household recycle?

As a matter of fact. just yesterday I took a big load of recyclables to the dump where the recycling bins in my city are located.

We have single stream recycling that makes it very easy for us. We also have a ongoing fundraiser for deposit cans and bottles that goes to local sports teams.

We've recycled since the eighties. Our town provides two big containers, one for recyclables and one for garbage. We compost all our vegetable matter and egg shells, shred paper which either becomes part of the compost or used as mulch, and even so, I am appalled at the amount of plastic that goes into the garbage because it can't be recycled.

Selections are rather limited in this survey. Our household reuses all plastic containers repeatedly before recycling. We reuse paper by making transplant pots and bedding for the animals, then gets composted in the garden. We reuse any metal that we can in our farm projects, and collect/sort the rest for selling to a local recycling center. We save glass for reuse and then use it in projects around the farm unless we have no way to reuse it, then we melt it down for art projects, and if we can not art with it, then we recycle that as well.

In our town, you have to drive everything to the disparate recycling centers all over town, or pay someone to pick it up and make it go away, so it is easier for us to just reuse it until it is no longer able to be reused, then take the bins of unusables to the recycling center once or twice a year.

The city provides a separate bin for recycling to every household. It is picked up every Monday along with the regular trash bin. Unfortunately some things are not accepted for recycling -- among them Styrofoam, certain plastics and surprisingly - gift wrap because most of it is already made from recycled material.

Yes, we re-cycle. I too, was shocked as to how much plastic and bags go into the re-cycle bins. I have tried to buy more stuff that is NOT in plastic but it is VERY difficult. So much stuff comes in plastic. I also take denim bags to buy my groceries. It's so easy to just drop the groceries into their bags, but I use my own bags. Sometimes, it even makes the clerks disgusted with you. :(
They had a unit on our local news station this week as to the detriments of plastic for humans. Definitely don't heat stuff in the microwave in plastic. I don't cover my stuff with saran warp to heat in a mirorwave either. They also said don't put it in the dishwasher because of the heat from the water. Also, no scratches on the plastic.
That means all of my plastic storage containers would have to be thrown away. :( I have been trying to put more left overs in glass but it is a challenge.
My son has a system in his town where they collect re-cyclables one day a week and trash another day a week. This is very convenient. However, I wonder if this is sooo easy that one would just drop it in the bin and forget about it. It's a responsibility for everyone to re-cycle. If one would go see what is being tossed maybe it would have more of an affect.

This message was edited Dec 18, 2017 10:54 AM

I use wax paper to cover anything I heat in the microwave. I wish they would just outlaw those dang supermarket bags and we could all use our own. Too bad if the clerks aren't happy with using your bags, they get paid the same no matter what. One of our markets uses a heavy duty plastic bag that can be used over and over. They got pictures from all over the world from customers who took them on their travels.

Wax paper is a wonderful idea. I too, wish they would outlaw the bags or at least, charge the consumer for using them. Money talks and I believe that using the plastic bags would come to an end quickly. One supermarket in town charges a quarter if you don't return your cart from the parking lot by putting a place on the cart to get your quarter back. Nobody leaves a cart in the parking lot. This supermarket also charges for bags: paper bags or you can use an empty box the supermarket is disposing of. This supermarket is Aldi's, which is a German company. My bags are heavy duty denim and when they are too shaggy to continue to use, they will go into the compost pile. Kudos to the supermarket that offers heavy duty bags. They are at least taking a stand against the pollution. But, really, the responsibility goes back to each consumer. They haven't found it necessary to stop the pollution. I have started taking my own left over containers and drink containers to the restaurants to avoid the dang styrofoam. I talked to a young woman pharmacist yesterday who is also very aware of saving the earth: bees, trash ect. She also takes her own containers to restaurants. It sounds extreme, but hey, maybe it should become the norm instead of the unusual. It was great to see a young woman so involved in leaving a smaller footprint. Most young people are too busy and uninterested. (too busy looking at their phones! Ha!)