I Don't Recycle
Yesterday I wrote about a problem my hometown of New Orleans and its extreme lack of recycling options. For a while I dutifully paid $15 a month for curbside pickup of all paper goods, plastics one through seven, glass and metals. This was working fine until I got an email one day saying that they were no longer accepting glass and then a few days later, they banned cardboard.As cardboard was one of the most common items found in my bin, I decided to cancel the service and bring my plastics to the next town over where the Whole Foods was accepting recyclables twice a week. Whole Foods recently ended their service as did a company 90 miles away that would drive into the city once a month to collect recyclables at a drop off point. In short, there are no local collection centers for me to drop off household goods -- especially plastics.
Yes, I could join up again with curbside recycling. However at $15 a month for two pickups, that's more than what I pay for garbage service which collects twice a week. As for splitting the cost with a neighbor, I have ethical problems with that and the service has limits on the amount that they will collect from each household in order to discourage that practice.
When I started writing for Green Daily, I was reminded time and time again by commenters that recycling is not everything. In fact, it is the least desirable of the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, recycle). As I no longer recycled, I decided to concentrate on the other two.
Reducing waste was difficult. Once I stopped putting items into the recycling bin, I became acutely aware of just how much trash we had. I first cut down on pre-packaged meals and started buying more in bulk. I didn't renew magazine subscriptions and I opted to read weekly newspapers online rather than in print. Both sides of paper gets printed on in my house and I signed up for the Do Not Mail List.
Reusing what remained turned out to be an enjoyable challenge. Glass jars get saved and reused as seed storage, homes for leftovers and drink glasses; pretty much anything that I might have used plastic for. The bottom half of milk gallons get sawed off and reused to start seeds as do yogurt containers or any other small dish that might come my way. Some items make it into the backyard and into the sandbox as toys. Finally, my biggest culprit, cardboard, gets shredded and put into the composter. I also add paper egg cartons and bills to the pile.
Although I have signifcantly reduced the amount of our household trash without the use of reycling, I do get the itch every once in a while and it's conceivable that I'll sign up for the service again soon. In the meantime I'll continue reducing, reusing and nagging my city council to add city-wide curbside recycling service to the budget.
Comments [3]
Tips for a Green Thanksgiving
10 Tips for Making Your Home More Energy Efficient
Green Gift Ideas: Beauty Gift Sets
