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Monday, June 7, 2010

Recycle For Everyone

We all know that recycling is good for the environment and it’s good for other people and it’s good for your living space. But how many of us – even with that knowledge – bother to recycle?


Our county has recycling bins at the dump and the dump “convenience stations”. Since we are too far in the sticks to have trash service we haul our wastes to a convenience station – aka the “mini dump”. It’s not a bad set-up.


Each bin has a sign telling you exactly what they will take in a given category. You can bring in cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, metal, car oil, tires.

The only thing that majorly aggravates me is that while the landfill has all these recycle drop-offs; they will not allow a person to take something they could use! So when Himself and I dropped off some rotted railroad ties (can’t burn them) we had to leave behind some fantastic new pallets someone had thrown out – pallets that I really, really need. ARGH!!!

To make it possible for us to participate, I’m going to set up a recycling area in the garage. Dad gave me a wire basket system to get me started. I’ll have to figure out how to tweak it to meet my needs – after I figure out what my needs will be!

Besides household waste, there are other things that should be recycled too. What about clothes, shoes, household items, even building supplies that you no longer want? Those shouldn’t go into the dump. If someone else could use them, donate them to a resale store.

Or give them away. A friend might make good use of it. You could even set it out on the curb with a “Free” sign on it. Bet it goes bye-bye quickly!
Do you recycle? Does your community have a recycling plan?

4 comments:

  1. We have what they call "redemption centers" where you bring your cans/bottles and anything you buy is stamped "5 cents ME"
    (for Maine) so you get the 5 cent deposit back that you pay when you buy them. Large bottles are 10 cents. Also we have what they call a "bulky trash" day where everyone in the neighborhood puts out their large bulky items and everyone scopes out what they could use before it gets hauled away. We also have free curb side recycled pick up, in addition to just regular trash day, but there are many rules and our dumps (called transfer stations) all have organized recycle areas for just about everything (we can't pick from ours either). I'm a big Goodwill donater/shopper as well. Yep, we recycle. Maine has always been good like that. ~Lili

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  2. We had limited curbside recycling for some time, but last year they expanded the program...now we can put our cans, aluminum, glass, paper, and most plastics into the bin, roll it out to the curb, and the truck comes to take it away. We also have weekly "green" pickups for yard waste (although we use a mulching mower, so we don't take much advantage of this) and twice-yearly bulk pickup.

    I try not to throw things away. I keep a pile of stuff to donate, and when it gets big enough I take it to Goodwill or the Vincent de Paul store. I also give things away on Craig's List or Freecycle.

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  3. Our community has a volunteer-kind'a like what you showed. No, I'm not as good as I should be. Oh, loved those amazing bird and moma bird pics. A couple of those look like they should be on the front of a greeting card! Love it.

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  4. We've had (limited) curbside recycling for several years, but last year they started accepting a wider range of items. We throw all our cans, glass, paper, and most plastics into the bin and roll it out to the street on trash day. Our service also accepts "green" waste, and twice a year they have bulk pickups.

    I keep a donation pile going and when it gets big enough I take it to Goodwill or the St. Vincent de Paul store. Bigger things I Freecycle or offer on Craigslist. Some weeks the only thing in the trashcan is used cat litter!

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