Long ago, before anyone read this blog - I talked about why I don't buy most plastic. Namely - it can't be recycled. At the time, I was living in a city that could only recycle PETE #1 and 2 plastic bottle. Pretty specific. And it meant my beloved Maple Cream Top yogurt was no longer allowed in my shopping cart.
Happily, our new city - Cleveland Heights - is an awesome about recycling! We can recycle ANY plastic, #1-5 and 7 - even plastic bags! We recycle paperboard like cereal boxes, too! And they even have curbside electronics recycling! Okay, okay. Chill out, Captain Planet.
Although reducing is certainly better than recycling, it's exciting to be able to indulge in my favorite plastic-wrapped treats now and then without feeling terribly guilty. Plus, we won't have to drive all our paper recycling somewhere else. One more reason to love my new place.
To find out about recycling in your city - just Google: "your city name" + "recycling." Finding out the actual rules for yourself ensures that your hard work to save recyclables won't go to waste. Otherwise, doom awaits. Or, you know, bad stuff: "Please note that materials that are not properly prepared for recycling or are mixed with non-recyclable material may be taken as refuse." (from here.)
Removing lids, rinsing out containers, knowing what you can and can't recycle, removing labels - all this might ensure that your pickle jar and mouthwash container fulfill their destiny.
Happy recycling!
PS: Several of you have emailed me wondering where my post about Gap went. I created a little blog (called, naturally - My Little Reviews) to chronicle all the adventures to come with being a Gap Brand Enthusiast - plus lots more reviews. My Worth It Wednesdays might just pop up over there. :)
PPS: Would you judge me if I created it just so I could create another header?
PPPS: Because that's totally not why I did it.
PPPPS: Mostly, anyway.
Friday, July 10, 2009
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Denver is pretty good about recycling, but you guys have us beat. Curbside electronics recycling is AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteMy town has zero recycling. We do our own but it would be nice if the town got on board.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Seattle and the recycling here is awesome (wasn't always that way, though). You can pretty much recycle ANYTHING. We can also throw our soiled pizza boxes and things of that nature into BOTH the recycling bin and the yard waste bin and they'll take it. I wish that more cities and towns would get on board with this.
ReplyDeleteWay cool. I would love to be able to recycle that much plastic where I live.
ReplyDeleteI get really excited about recycling in the nerdiest way possible. I'm just waiting for the day we have a yard so I can FINALLY start composting!!
ReplyDeleteMy town is HORRIBLE about recycling. I have boxes that I fill with recyclables that I can take to a bin in the Walmart parking lot, but they don't take glass or aluminum cans or any kind of paper other than newspaper. It's really frustrating wanting to recycle everything, but not being able to. Any thoughts on how I can make this happen, other than moving to another town?
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to mention (to someone who might care) that today I did a triathlon that passed out reusable sports bottles instead of plastics. They even had giant water dispensers so that you could refill your bottle on the spot. I thought it was so great because usually people end up throwing the regular bottles in the trash afterward.
ReplyDeleteEven better than recycling; Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Get serious and add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. Available at www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won't even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! It's cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You'll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won't know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. Now we're talking green and helping the environment without any pain. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways.
ReplyDelete