To what extent do you recycle?

[Shananigans]

Today my boss took a few of us out for coffee at Caribou and offered to "wait on us" by bringing our coffees to the table. Because there were 5 of them, they gave her a cardboard carrier to use. After we were done with our coffee (or in my case a Chai Latte...yummy) we got up to leave and I felt really guilty about the cardboard carrier. So I brought it back up to the counter and asked the guy if they could re use it (after all, it was only used for about 60 seconds in the first place). He looked at me a bit strange, but accepted it with a thanks. So this brings me to thinking... to what level will you go to recycle? Normally I am a "sort my garbage and reuse paper bags" type, but maybe I should up it a bit more...

[supernova]

1. I like recycling

I take my own trash and recylables to the county recycling center. I like it not only because you keep materials in use, but also because the size of my trash is less, and I'm a small person. LOL! :hi:

About the only think I can't recycle is styrofoam. Peanuts! argh!

[Armand]

2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Those are the very words I live by.

Besides, in the long run, it saves money. :)

[MaineDem]

3. We recycle everything that's recyclable

Cans in one bag, #2 plastic in another, cardboard in another, newspapers and magazines in another, etc.

All goes to the recycling facility and the bags get thrown in with the other plastic bags when we're done.

It's actually a pain and I have bags all over the kitchen but it's worth it in the end.

[DenverDem]

4. Denver picks stuff up out front.

Much easier to do, that way.

I also compost my leaves (and neighbors', as well) and kitchen waste and end up with some good fertilizer each spring.

[bif]

5. He probably threw the cardboard carrier out after you left

When I go the the grocer store and am only buying a few items I tell them I don't need a bag. If they've already put the things in the bag, they take the items out, and half the time throw the bag out. They just don't ge the reuse part of the equasion.

[Bertha Venation]

16. Do you take a canvas bag?

Haven't done this in a while; thanks for the reminder. I need to start this up again: use a canvas bag if going for just a few things. The clerks seem to resent the hell out of being asked to pack my canvas bags instead of their shiny new plastic ones.

[Kellanved]

6. the (German) usual

IMHO I don't recycle, nor does the company paid to take care of my garbage (sad reality) . Most of it ends up in a furnace no matter how good I sort it.
But as I pay for the disposal of plastic packagings at the supermarket, I don't see why I should pay for it again (by throwing it in the normal garbage). Paper, organic and glass are free as well; so yes: I sort my garbage in "bio", "Grüner Punkt" (plastic), glass, paper and "other". All, but "other", is already paid in advance or free altogether. I can claim to sort for purely economic reasons.

[afraid_of_the_dark]

7. The university I go to actually got in trouble over this...

They have recycling bins to sort trash... but they all ended up being dumped in the same trucks to go to the landfill. Why bother sorting if they're all meeting the same fate?

[mopinko]

8. hhmmmm

well, i sort paper into one bin, and glass, metal, and 1 and 2 plastic into another. these all go into blue bags, then the city of chicago picks them up and mashes them together with all the rest of the garbage. does this count?

[CanuckAmok]

9. Bart Simpson said it best:

"Recycling?! C'mon, everybody knows the planet is doomed. All recycling does is ensures our last few years on this planet are shared with inferior merchandise".


I sort of recycle. I do fill the municipal bags with stuff that can be recycled, instead of just throwing it out with the trash.

But I wouldn't be surprised if it all ends up in the same landfill. There's a growing part of me that thinks that it's too late to save this planet, and that recycling is pointless busy work, designed to make us feel better, kind of like watching the lifejacket demonstration on an airliner.

on edit: we have a municipal recycling pickup, every other garbage day. Everything that can be recycled goes into the same big bag, except glass. As I understand it, the sub-sorting is done by adults with learning disabilities and prisoners at a nearby medium security prison, as part of a life-skills/fundraising programme.

[Kali]

10. kinda sanctamonious answer

I try not to NEED to recycle by not buying crap that has a lot of packaging, reusing containers, etc, but must admit it gets harder and harder....Also I live in a rural area that doesn't have the infrastructure. I recycle glass onsite (just silica eh? - have a glass pit that can someday be mined for materials) send aluminum to a nearby town for their firefighters 4th of July fireworks fund, paper gets burned, organics get either composted, fed to chickens or dogs. Send a bag or three of gross stuff - plastics, and such every month or so to the county facility. In my grandparents' time they burned it all, cans too, did maybe a wastebasket or so everyday. It just wasn't there! I have noticed in the types of litter that people leave around that it too has gone so plastic, used to be beer bottles and cans, tp, maybe some other paper - usually that breaks down pretty fast, now you see plastic bags hanging in bushes for months, plastic bottles all over the place, but they start to crumble after a while in the sun and are hard to clean up, and of course the best - a wadded up disposable diaper. I bet these last for years.

[yo-yo-ma]

11. how about also "Refuse"

all the shit we buy, not just the excessive packaging,
we need so much less than we actually get

[Shananigans]

12. Ok...so how about

Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle?

[MrSlayer]

13. The city makes you recycle here.

But I have no problem with it.

[JetCityLiberal]

14. I think this is a very important post

I try to recycle everything that can be recycled.

Like MrSlayer's city, the city of Seattle next year will require people to recycle. If you get three strikes(or some number of offenses for not recycling) they will stop picking up your trash.

I lived in a rural area where recycling was more effort. Many neighbors chose to burn their trash and recyclables. Talk about an environmental nightmare! If there were only millions not billions of us humans living on this earth maybe we could be a little more lax on putting in some effort. I think recycling is important.

Again great post! Thank you.

JetCityLiberal

[Shananigans]

15. Why thank you!!!

I appreciate the compliment!

[catmandu57]

17. Our town makes it easy

they take the time to sort plastic, glass, and metal. I just toss everything into the bin and they do the rest. Paper is picked up the day after, the sad thing is we're the only people on our block that takes the time to do this.