Forcibly Recyle

Recycling doesn't come naturally to me at all. Here I am with a blog about living greener and remembering the "green piece" and I consider recycling a huge chore. Am I the only one that feels this way?

My city provides us with a huge recycling bin, with wheels, that is divided into two compartments. One compartment is for paper, cardboard, etc. The other side is for glass and aluminum. The city has begun bringing our bin down to the curb for us on every Monday and only picks up the garbage every other week. This is supposed to be an incentive to recycle more.

Since my city is making such a great effort, I have decided to match them by making a few changes myself.

3 Ways to Force Myself to Recycle...

1) Take the garbage can out of the kitchen and replace it with labled containers for recycling.

2) Make a List of Recycleable Things

- Glass: Clear, green, and brown glass bottles or jars

- Metal: Aluminum, Steel & Tin cans

- Plastics: plastics bottles like shampoo bottles, bleach bottles, peanut butter jars and plastic beverage bottles (milk jugs, soda bottles, juice jugs, and water jugs; remove and discard lids).

- Paper: Newspapers, Junk mail, Paperback books, Paperboard boxes like cereal, Catalogs, Cardboard boxes (empty and flattened, must be clean and dry, no pizza boxes), Magazines, Office and school paper (staples and paper clips are OK; remove spiral binding and rubber bands), Phone books, Paper bags, Envelopes (except overnight)

3) Make a List of Non-Recycleable Things

- Glass, Metal and Plastics: Aerosol cans, Light bulbs, Plastic or metal hangers, Aluminum foil, Mirrors, Plastic wrap, Batteries, Paint cans, Pyrex glass, drinking glasses, Ceramics or china, Pie plates, Styrofoam Packing, Coffee pots, baby bottles, Plastic bags, Styrofoam Trays, Clothing Plastic, cups or tableware, Syringes, Electronics Plastic, dinner/deli trays, Window glass

- Paper: Candy wrappers, Frozen or refrigerated food boxes, Overnight delivery envelopes, Diapers, Hardback books, Paper milk or juice cartons, Drink boxes, Napkins, paper plates, tissues (ew), Wax paper, Fast food bags, Pizza boxes, or other boxes with food residue

There, that wasn't so hard. I'll report back in a couple weeks so you can see if my tricks have helped re-condition me to recycle more.