In our hearts, most of us want to help maintain the health
of our planet by recycling. We know it’s
the right thing to do, but our lives are busy and it’s not always easy. Below
are some ideas to help make recycling more doable.
Recycling in Austin is actually pretty easy since we can put
most of our recyclables into our blue curbside bin. The first challenge is how to collect these
items conveniently. The second
challenge is what to do with items that cannot be collected at the curb.
SOME SUGGESTIONS TO MAKE THINGS EASIER
For curbside pick-up:
- Put a small container in or near your kitchen to collect items that can be picked up curbside. I have a small wastebasket under my kitchen sink just for these items.
- In the office or room where you have junk mail, magazines, newspapers, etc., keep a basket or small box to collect these items.
- The 2-inch ball of aluminum foil is an interesting challenge. The City of Austin asks us to compress our clean foil into a 2-inch or larger ball. I pitch my small pieces of foil (from the tops of sour cream, cream cheese and yogurt containers) next to my kitchen recycling wastebasket and put it into a ball when I have enough.
- Washing jars can be a challenge. The City of Austin recommends a light rinse, but has anyone ever “lightly rinsed” a peanut butter jar? Here’s what I do – I add some detergent and very hot water to the jar, shake well, and that’s it. Better yet, get a 4-year-old to lick the jar!
For Plastic bags that
go to collection bins at the grocery store:
- For plastic bags, bubble wrap, clean ziplock bags etc., I put a grocery bag in my broom closet. When it’s full, I take it to the grocery store and unload it.
For items that need
to go to the Recycling and Reuse Drop-Off Center:
- I keep a small box in the garage where I put all my batteries, light bulbs, Styrofoam, and other small things to take to this center. Batteries can also go to the libraries and bulbs can also go to Home Depot, but at least they’re together for a recycling trip somewhere.
I welcome any
suggestions from my followers as to what you do to make recycling more
convenient.
