Recycling with a Recycle Bin

We do our best to collect as many items as possible, in our daily lives, for recycling purposes. With that in mind, we keep a large blue recycle bin in our kitchen for that very purpose.

However, not everyone in our family is as diligent about recycling, as my husband is. We secretly call him the 'Recycling Nazi'. He rules our recycling with an iron fist. Woe to the person who mistakenly throws an non-recyclable into recycle bin! My husband will hunt that person down and they will most certainly pay - getting a long lecture about taking the time to differentiate between items and how irresponsible it is to throw just any old thing into the recycling bin.

Of course in line with his commitment to recycling, he is also the one tasked with the responsibility of dragging the recycle bin out to the curb and retrieving them again, once the contents have been collected. Again, it seems my husband is the only one truly committed to the recycling schedule. The collectors have a very hit-and-miss approach to gathering from the blue bins and they'll often come earlier than scheduled or not at all. This sets my husband to scrambling trying to get our bin to the curb before the truck leaves, or conversely grumbling to himself, when our recycle bin sits at the curb uncollected for days on end.

Of course, my husbands efforts are well-placed, and no one can slag him for his commitment to the environment. In fact, all of us should really take a lesson from him. I'm sure if we all worked together, it would make the entire process run more smoothly for everyone involved. Unfortunately, today's pace of life is so hectic. Whether at home, work or school, many people barely have time to think, let alone to take the time to sort through their recyclables and place them in the properly labeled recycle bin. However, if we can all try to think more long term, and think about where our planet will be in a few years from now, it just might make squeeze in a little extra time in our day for recycling.

In our house, we all have made more of an effort recently. My husband has given us several reminders about what is recyclable and what is really just garbage. He's also given us lesson on giving containers a quick rinse before placing them in the recycle bin and cautioned us about removing any sharp edges on our containers. Every little bit helps, and feel that we are making some positive improvement in doing our part for the planet.