Recycle!

So recycling is the number 1 way to start improving the world around you. It's cheap and relatively easy to do. Why recycle you say? Well let me drop you a few stats...

• Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to decompose in a landfill.
• It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
• In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.

If you want to start making changes in your life this is the first step. First if you don't have curbside recycling then you should call your local government office and urge them to get with the program and the 21st century and look into it. If you don't have curbside then try looking online or in your local phonebook for recycling centers where you can drop your stuff off.

In our area curbside recycling is included with our yearly taxes and contracted through our local garbage pickup people. You are provided 1 bin to put all your recyclables in and put out every other week for them to pick up. This is the one area where I am a bit of a "nazi" as I will dig stuff out of the garbage that my husband has carelessly thrown away. Needless to say we had to call and get a second bin because we recycle so much. We have a list of acceptable recyclables, example, there are a ton of types of plastic and our company only takes types 1-7. All you have to do is look at the bottom of the container and see if it's marked with the recycle symbol and the number is usually inside. They also prefer some things crushed and everything to be rinsed. This is the part my husband doesn't like. If it's hard to rinse out, like peanut butter, he would rather throw it away. To him I say stop being such a wuss, but since I do 99% of the cleaning in our house I just do it myself.

We got a little storage bin system for in our kitchen because I don't like to go all the way out to the garage to put stuff in the bins. It has 3 bins and we put paper in 1 and glass/plastic in the other. It makes it easier for the recycling people that come pick it up as I have see the truck and that is how the truck is divided. That is pretty much it. It's not very hard and it really doesn't take a lot of time. Some things are admittedly easier to rinse than others, like a shampoo bottle, but it is not too difficult. I often find myself rinsing stuff out and looking for a recycling bin at other homes I have become so programmed to recycle.

I urge all of you to take advantage of recycling. If you have curbside in your area you might already be paying for it in your taxes and if there is a drop off center in your town those are usually free also.

Other resources: http://earth911.com/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/ (plastic stats from this site)
http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/common.html
and always the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/learn.htm#green