Seriously Recycling
I have become very, very serious about recycling lately. It is quite sad, and somewhat embarrassing, that though I’ve bragged many times on the North Augusta recycling program, I’ve never actually participated in it.
Until recently, that is.
I just woke up one day and decided that what I was doing was shameful. They give you the recycling bags for free. You don’t have to separate anything but big cardboard boxes. Everything else goes into the bags. There was no reasonable excuse not to participate.
They include in each roll of bags a list of all the things they want you to put into them. It breaks down like this:
- Clear and brown glass
- Aluminum and steel cans
- Newspapers and magazines
- Any plastic bottles with #1 or #2 on the bottom
- Pasteboard (cereal boxes, 12 pack drink boxes, etc)
Okay, well that makes up about 1/2 of everything we had been tossing. Half. HALF.
Good god, what have I been doing? I apologize to my kids and all future generations for all the waste I have so cavalierly generated. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Ever.
You should think about it, too. How many soda cans do you toss? How many cereal boxes, 12 pack boxes, bottles, etc? How many opened green bean (pork and beans, corn, whatever) do you throw away? I’ve thrown away way too many. And I’m not doing it anymore. I hope you will join me.
This earth is the only one we’ve got. Take care of it. And if you are wondering, there are alot of other things you can do, too.
September 11th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
When I lived in Blacksburg, at Virginia Tech, recycling was included in city waste pickup. It was an extra blue bin to take out to the curb, but the city paid to have it all split in the right direction. I think if more counties included the service, it would eventually become less costly and more likely that people recycled.
I also wish that more people understood that these stupid heat fans in public restrooms are more detrimental to the environment than a few paper towels are. Not only that, but they encourage growth of bacteria on ones person. And the use of antibiotics outside of a health care environment?!
I’ll tell you what, if you help pull the wool from over my eyes, I promise to do the same for you.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Thanks for a great post, and for linking to So what can I do. I hope you and your readers enjoy the site and implement some of the ideas. Keep up the great work!
Ryan, don’t get discouraged! Even one person can make a difference. Check out So what can I do to see how. I agree with you about county recycling programs. I love ours in DeKalb County, GA. Oh, and here’s my take on antibiotic overuse.
September 13th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
If it were that easy to recycle here, I’d be on the bandwagon myself. A great link to “so what can I do.”
-k-