In every corner of the world, one thing’s for certain: All the cool kids are recycling. So if you aren’t on the bandwagon, yet, take a step back, then run forward and propel yourself upward!
Why Recycle?
The benefits of recycling are major and far reaching. Recycling saves, preserves, and reduces.
Recycling saves energy, land space, money, and habitats for wildlife.
Recycling reduces air pollution, reduces water pollution, and the need for landfills.
Recycling preserves homes for animals, trees for birds, nature for our children, and …well… the world as we know it.
Recycling reduces trash in landfill sites, which cuts down on the cost of waste disposal and the clearing of more land for new landfills when the current landfills become too full to store any more waste. Recycling is an easy and less expensive alternative to clearing more land for new landfills. For example, composting, recycling kitchen waste and yard waste into compost provides a means of free nutritious soil for gardening. In addition, most waste is not biodegradable. Its stays in the landfills for years to come, just sitting there and piling up with the rest of the trash. Recycling would allow us to reuse the materials over and over again. – About My Planet
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
During the early years in our marriage, my husband was in the Air Force. I was a full time mother, which I apparently enjoyed immensely because I had three beautiful daughters within 5 years. Needless to say, money wasn’t exactly plentiful. But you know what, I don’t recall ever carrying! Anyway, I read something around that time that became my household motto: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”
Due to the economy not being in the best of moods lately AND a great, profound desire to save the world – I pulled the motto down from a shelf in the closet and dusted it off. We’re all approaching life with this motto firmly leading the way. It’s actually fun to find ways to recycle and reuse products. The entire family’s getting involved and it feels better than I can even say.
To know that you’re doing your part to make the world a better place for humans, animals, and plants is one of the most rewarding and beautiful feelings imaginable.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways you can help slow climate change and global warming. By recycling at home, you help significantly lower carbon emissions associated with extracting virgin materials, manufacturing products and waste disposal. – National Recycling Coalition
We reuse the plastic bags from the grocery store in the following ways:
- We line the smaller trash cans (like the ones in the bathrooms and home office) with them.
- I used them as a sort of “bubble wrap” when packing away Christmas decoration.
- I just found a store that actually recycles the plastic bags, so I’ll be taking most of them to their drop box.
- Dog owners often carry them with them while walking their dogs – as a place to put the pooch’s poo.
We reuse paper in the following ways:
- We recycle our newspapers – after getting every ounce of good from them that we can. Every article’s read, every recipe snipped, every crossword puzzle worked, etc.
- I use junk mail to write my grocery lists on and often make my daily to do lists on old envelopes or junk mail.
- When I was homeschooling my girls, we used junk mail (and print outs that were no longer needed) as scratch paper.
- We use old Christmas cards to make gift cards the following year. And I don’t even want to tell you how many times we reuse gift bags!
- I only buy wall calendars that have pictures I’ll later use. I have several framed pictures on the wall that look like art prints, but in reality – they’re simply calendar pictures that I waxed creative with. One of my favorites is a black and white picture of James Dean. And (clears throat) as you can imagine, I have a never ending supply of polar bear pictures.
- The inside of toilet roll paper can be recycled.
- Take old magazines to rest homes, Goodwill, doctor’s offices, dentists, etc.
Needless to say, everyone should be saving and recycling aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and newspapers. Invest in 
large bins and make it a routine to fill them up. The main benefit is the wonderful feeling you’ll get when you realize that you are making a colossal difference, but many places will also pay you for your trash. Check with recycling centers near you. It isn’t, I assume, huge money, but every little bit helps, right? Especially if you set aside a certain designation for the money you earn – extra Christmas money, Summer vacation, saving for a colorful new living room sectional couch with plush cushions (three guesses what I’m aiming for), etc.
If you do a little research, you can even find some truly amazing products that have been made from recycling castoffs. For example, check out these brilliant recycled tire mats and find a host of amazing recycled, repurposed products on MSN’s Shop Green Pages. I want Lois the Ladybug in the worst possible way.
What are some of the ways you’re reusing and recycling? Let us know in the comments – I’m always eager to learn new ideas.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!
Joi
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi;
I got a great tip from a friend of mine – she uses her empty plastic bread bags for her daughter’s sandwiches, saving leftovers, etc. Since I started doing this I’m so excited to see that we aren’t needing to buy any specially made plastic bags anymore. The bread bags are really useful for storing alot of things. The bags inside cereal boxes are also very useful – most recently I used one to store the opened leftover block of cheese.
For junk mail I registered at Greendimes.com to end unwanted grocery mailers and catalogues. It’s a great service.
Thanks for the inspiration, Joi!
Zette’s last blog post..Eco Shopping Bags 101
Plastic bottles are a growing problem in our landfills and oceans. We felt that something needed to be done……and now.
We felt that plastics made from crops that could be producing food, wasn’t the answer. Many reports indicate that in addition to causing our food process to rise, the equipment and chemicals used to produce food based bio-fuel may be increasing pollution.
We knew that there wasn’t going to be one “fix it all” answer and began to wonder if anything was ever going to be done. The problem was growing every day, more bottles were being manufactured and more bottles were accumulating in places where we didn’t need them.
We were wondering if “Earth Friendly Bottles” would ever be available?
That’s why we decided to do our part and started ENSO Bottles. We are partnering with other companies to offer a PET plastic bottle that will biodegrade, compost or recycle.
Our bottles can be produced in a clear or colored version, however, clear version isn’t quite as clear as current PET plastic bottles but then again that’s one way to identify our earth friendly bottle.
ENSO is trying to achieve sustainability with our plastic bottles. Our goal is to make bottles that won’t have the adverse impact on our environment and are made from non food bio-fuels.
We haven’t started making them from bio-fuel but that’s high on our agenda and hopefully will be something we can offer in the future.
But for now, we offer a plastic bottle that is earth friendly…it’s just one step but if we all take just one step toward improving our planet….we will make a difference.
Now all we need is for a lot of beverage companies to start using earth friendly plastic bottles.
Recycling reduces the wastage. We can reduce the usage of plastics and polymers. A good article on recycling. Younger generation needs to be get educated on Environmental issues.
Jane