Does anyone recycle?

Question

Anything at all.

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

I've been recycling since long before there was official recycling. I grew up poor so nothing was thrown out if it could have any further use. When a shirt collar wore through, it was removed and turned around so that the "new" side was visible. When the body wore out, it became a rag for cleaning. Paper was used on both sides. A tin can became a toy (string phone). I still use things 'forever' before putting what is left into the recycle containers. My first job was to provide the recycle of nuclear fuel that came out of the reactors to cut out 99+% of the waste that had to be held for over 500 years by recovering the available fuel for reuse.

Yes, I recycle.

Answer 3

Yes, many people do...and it is becoming more and more the mainstream as our waste management departments have recycling services, which was not always the case. I don't agree with the statement that it doesn't matter either. Every little bit matters...no matter how small the effort. As Lao Tsu states, "The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with one step." So does each of our efforts!

We are not owners of the Earth...we are its curators and we are responsible for the care of something so incredibly beautiful.. Do you want your parents, your children, and your friends to have landfills in their backyards? What about you not being able to swim in a cool pool of water on a hot summer day because there is not enough water available? Or worse, having your drinking water contaminated with heavy metals. This is not in the distant future...this is happening to you now. This is not a war between "green" and "non-green" people. We all enjoy a blue sky on a crisp fall day...or the warm breezes of spring after a long hard winter.

Our ancestors used viable earth friendly means for much of their necessities and even their luxuries. And they reused things because they did not have the luxury of wasting. Yes, please consider recycling but also take a moment to look at what you are buying. If you can replace just a few of your purchases with products made from post consumer recycling material you have done much. If one person recyles a can, that doesn't seem like much but remember that if a thousand people also recycle just one can...that is a thousand less cans in the local landfill. And what about two cans...it slowly builds and ALL of it helps...so do not think that it is a waste if everyone does not do it. WE ALL change the world by first changing that which is within ourselves.

And just because the government does not make it mandatory does not make recycling worth ignoring. Safety options on cars were not mandatory for years! WE are the government...no matter what the current rhetoric espouses. WE are the change... and YOU are the beginning.

HOW TO START:
1.your local waste mangement department may have recycling depots or even curbside pick-up for certain plastics, metal, glass, and paper.
2.Computer products (especially hard drives and monitors) can be taken to computer recycling centers...or donated to a school, a senior center, a local charity, or given to a friend who may not be able to afford one (and yes there are still people who are unable to buy a computer!)...or you can list it in the pennysaver, freecycle, or craig's list.
3.Cell phones can be recycled at Best Buy Stores or IKEA. You can also donate them to women's charity's who use them for abused and homeless women's shelters. I would suggest keeping an old cell phone in your glove compartment (charged) so that you can dial 911 in an emergency. You do not have to have a service plan for this.
4. Recycle batteries, light bulbs, plastic bags at store drop offs. Many of the major chains are doing this as part of a "green initiative" supported by the government. Please if you do nothing else ALWAYS recyle the long use compact flourescent light bulbs as many of them contain mercury. It takes a very tiny amount of mercury to contaminate a 14 acre lake...your drinking water and your fish, if you eat it.
5.Gift cards can be sent to St. Jude's hospital for children. They are remade into gift cards that are sold to benefit research for childhood disease.

I am no expert on any of this and I struggle everyday with my own impact on the world around me. We are not perfect and we all screw up or forget, but that does not mean we do not keep trying. The most wonderful things about human beings are our capacity for creativity and our capacity for compassion. Recycling is an experiment in both.

Yes, there are people who recycle...and more everyday! I hope that you will consider recycling and buying recycled products. Every little bit DOES help and DOES count! It takes only a little effort to get started! Best wishes and good luck!

Answer 4

I work for a disposal company and unfortunately most people don`t know what is recycle-able, and what is, plastic bottles are the lids are not, in fact anything with a lid is not, the lid i mean, styrofoam is not but egg cartons are, aerosol cans are not, electronics are not, and i could go on for ever, people should get info from there local disposal comp. it costs more to sort the junk people try to recycle than recycling actually saves, makes you wonder if it is worth it.

Answer 5

I can't say that I do these things every time; but most of the time I either reduce or reuse these things:

My city has recycling pick-up once a week for: glass, most plastics, aluminum, newspapers, and yard clippings (branches mostly). We consistently recycle all these items...it's a habit we developed over many years.

We use a mulching mower to cut what lawn grass we have left. We use dropped leaves as mulch.

If I come home with any plastic shopping bags, I return them to be recycled or once in awhile I'll reuse them for another purpose.

Electronics: either donate to a group that uses them for parts or use a recycling service at a retailer.

I either reuse or recycle plastic containers from take our restaurants.

I turn in my phone books to a recycling center.

Banana peels are tossed onto our staghorn fern.

I am making 'hole punched' designs on soup cans to use as shades for my stings of party lights and candle holders.

I've started laying out an area in my back yard for a compost heap. I intend to recycle yard waste and some food waste. Wish me luck, we have a small yard and I don't want to irritate my neighbors...;)

I reuse many of the small items that come my way. A friend gave me a collection of plastic beads left over from mardi gras....I decorated a birthday gift with them, and the guy wore the beads all night at his party.

Answer 6

My family has always recycled, even when I was growing up in Red State Indiana. Now that I'm older, I'm a pretty hard core recycle even though I'm still working out the actual benefits of it. Best bet is to reduce front end consumption, rather than trying to figure out what to do with back end waste.

Answer 7

Yes- must respectfully disagree with paristoy. No absolutes in nature or life- the more who do recycle, the more the business community will embrace and incentivize it, and the greater the effect. Must start somewhere. I'm a long time recycler of paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, cans, old paint and oil, old computers, batteries. Also "recycle" usable clothing and goods by either selling or donating and receiving tax deduction. Also enjoy repairing and maintaining items to reduce consumption and increase the value of items made from our planet's resources, and the value of my $ spent.

Answer 8

On Oahu ,the City and County of Honolulu gave most homes large blue containers with wheels for street side recycled goods to be picked up. The program was set aside and now the blue containers are used for yard waste. I put kitchen produce trimmings ,peels and yard waste into that container which is picked up twice a month.


I get card board boxes from store when I shop that I put all of my paper trash into. I take those boxes of paper and all of the bottles and cans to the local elementary school's huge seperated bin.

Safeway has a bin to recycle plastic bags. I use as many cloth bags as possible,though.

I donate unwanted items to charity and also buy from them which is really fun. Sometimes I see people sitting on the couches at the Salvation Army talking on their cell phones on business calls! Once a celebrity was walking around talking on his phone there too.

My garbage can is usually nearly empty and just seems like good exercise to pull it out to street twice a week for pick up.

Answer 9

In many locations in the US, recycling is _strongly_ encouraged by rules and costs of waste disposal. In the town in which I live, only one barrel of "trash" per week per household is allowed, but free recycling bins are provided for mixed disposal of waste plastic (labeled with the triangle recycle symbol), metal (e.g. Al foil) and glass, and for separated paper/cardboard scrap.
People also scour the neighborhood for recyclable plastic bottles that have refunds. This works to keep the area cleaner, too... I wish all recyclable containers had deposits, for that reason.

Answer 10

Everything I can. Reduce, reuse, then recycle. Big thrift store shopper/donator. Set up community book/magazine exchanges. Local recycling program-giving it to city to encourage programs & development. Mvd here last year and found ways to recycle all plastics, tetra pak, foil wrap, coreboard. Next project is the food scraps...it's very doable with planning. I'm starting to wonder why I pay for trash pick-up.

Answer 11

My family recycles all the time. In our kitchen we have a trash can on the left and then a recycle can on the right for cans, glass and bottles. We also recycle cardboard. =)