Today is Earth Day and I have to get on my soapbox about recycling in this country. Colorado and every other state in the United States is burying themselves in trash as hundreds of landfills have reached their maximum of usage. Taxpayers need to realize land areas large enough to support proper drainage and usage as a landfill are very scarce and when a community is faced with this expense, it is going to raise your property taxes tremendously due to the cost of land and installation of a landfill. I served three years on the recycling committee back in Maine, and the town I lived in was facing just such a dilemma. We, as citizens and taxpayers, can do something to lengthen the life span of a landfill while saving our planet for our future relatives.
Reduce - Recycle - Reuse is a motto most communities use today and many people find excuses why they can't participate in. Recycling committees and town planners have tried educating in the schools, mailings of brochures; and even putting in pay-per-bag garbage pick-ups to instill the importance of this situation - but are still not at a satisfactory level to prolong landfill usage.
Many people, like myself, live in apartments where storage for recycling materials is a problem. I have a small trash can specifically for my recycling items, and carry it out to the recycling dumpster in our apartment every 2 days when I go to the mailbox to get my mail. If I can find a way in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment at the age of 74 - what is your excuse? Other people just don't bother separating their trash due to time elements or attitude of "who cares". I CARE. I realize those of you who read my blog probably already participate in this valuable task, but just felt today was a good day to remind everyone there are things all of us can do daily to help the filling up of l;andfills:
!. Stop using plastic bags! Either bring cloth bags to the grocery store or carry your items in your hands to your vehicle. Plastic bags are NOT bio-degradable and many end up in trees or on lawns as they blow around, or they end up in landfills.
2. Stop buying bottled water!! Buy a good water bottle like most of us have here in Colorado and use tap water. I have a water bottle in my refrigerator at all times so when I go outside, I just grab it and go...if I don't forget it.
3. Stop using plastic diapers! Diapers are the #1 item filling up landfills, as they also are not bio-degradable. Use cloth diapers as I did for my 4 kids or use a diaper service.
4. Start a compose pile for all food waste, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc. Even in a small space you can use a milk carton or other plastic container to accummulate this waste in and transport it outside daily to a composting area. My daughter in Maine has been making her own compose for her gardens for many years.
5. THINK before you throw something in the trash and be more conscious of what can be recycled, reused, or reduced. Most of us don't realize how some throw-away items can be turned into a different product. Those who have yard sales or list things on Craigs List realize that one man's trash is often another man's treasure. One of my children saves cardboard toilet paper and paper towel rolls for the humane society for the small animals to chew on; my son donates his used magazines to a nursing home; schools are always looking for egg cartons for projects...the list goes on and on.
Hope you all have a very happy Earth Day and remember...Reuse - Reduce - Recycle for the benefit of all of us.
5 comments:
I got it!
I recycle everything except glass. Gwinn finally started doing recycling about a year ago, but for some reason, they can't take glass yet. I even take all my plastic bags back to Walmart (where I got em in the first place) to be recycled. I think that recycling is becoming more and more of a popular thing to do because people are much more conscious of it than they used to be. Our church is very involved in Adopt-A-Highway. We have adopted a stretch of highway where a group of people volunteers to pick up the garbage that is put there by ignorant people who don't care about keeping our earth nice and green.
Wal-Mart sells cloth shopping bags for $1.00 a piece which would eliminate the need for any plastic bagging. Our grocery store also sells cloth bags. There is a law in the hopper here in Colorado to ban the use of plastic bags in ALL big box stores.
Yes, I think everyone is aware now of the cloth bags that are for sale everywhere. I do have a large-size one, but I almost always forget it when we leave the house to go shopping, so what good is it? I return all my plastic bags to Walmart where they are recycled anyway, plus I would have to buy 10-12 of the cloth bags for the amount of weekly shopping that we do, plus find a place to keep them at home. I have asked Walmart on several occasions to put my stuff in a brown paper bag, which I prefer over the plastic bags because I re-use those too, but they never have them. I also re-use the plastic bags in my small waste baskets so that I don't have to buy small garbage bags. Every little bit helps!
I have one more suggestion that would help many in this country: Think before you buy something. Most things come with too much packaging and are often things we don't need so they end up in the landfills as well.
Also, regarding remembering cloth bags, I often forget mine as well. Rob & I leave a stack of bags in each car and still often forget. A co-worker has a small sticker/cling on her windshield that reminds her to take her bags ("Got bags?") - If i see that cling, I'll get one for each car, but in the interim and thinking a sticky note with the same message might be a good start.
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