Not easy being green!

[MamaMolly]

Boo hiss on my town. They make it so freaking hard to recycle!
*no bins to put recycling in. I have to purchase transparent plastic 'recycling' bags for the plastic and metal, and the paper has to go in paper bags. Which means that I have to pay for paper bags at TJs or Wholefoods. Sigh.

*I found out by looking at the town website that they only accept plastic #1 for recycling. ONLY!! How much stuff have I put in the recycling bag only to now discover that it has ended up in the trash. Probably 99% or more of our plastic recycling. Double sigh.

*This week I learned that the glass I've been recycling ends up being crushed and used as a layer in...you guessed it!!! THE LANDFILL!

So why, why, why am I spending so much freaking time washing the d@mn garbage, peeling off labels, sorting into the freaking fracking proper kind of bags only to discover that just about everything I've done ends up in the landfill ANYWAY??? :banghead:

I'm THIS CLOSE to saying FUGGETABOUTIT!!!!!!!

[hellokitty]

Molly, I feel your pain. When we lived in IL, recycling was just included in everyone's trash bill, so we got a free bin. Where we live now, you have to pay a lot in order to recycle, and NOBODY does it (I have *never* seen a blue bin at the end of anyone's driveway). They only have recycling drives at school parking lots that rotate, so you need to watch the paper to find out where they will be. Luckily, our church is starting their own recycling program, so we plan to collect our items and bring them to church. Some places sure make it hard to do the right thing!

[gatorsmom]

Where we live now, you have to pay a lot in order to recycle, and NOBODY does it (I have *never* seen a blue bin at the end of anyone's driveway).


I agree that some communities just don't care. My ILs live just north of Houston, TX and they don't even recycle aluminum!! I was horrified to see my MIL just tossing cans in the trash. Jees, I've been recycling pop cans since I was a kid. It was a great way to make some money!

[hellokitty]

I agree that some communities just don't care. My ILs live just north of Houston, TX and they don't even recycle aluminum!! I was horrified to see my MIL just tossing cans in the trash. Jees, I've been recycling pop cans since I was a kid. It was a great way to make some money!

Yes, it's amazing the difference of region makes toward the attitude of recycling. When we live in IL, everyone recycled, even at the hospitals where my dh and I worked, pop cans and papers were always recycled. Nobody even batted an eye, that was just the way things were done. Around here, the only recyling bins I have ever seen are the battery and printer cartridge recycling bins and that is b/c organizations use those for fundraising. The thing is, our area is also probably the completely opposite of the, "going green" movement, it's maddening. I feel like ppl where we live are so wasteful, they don't care about the environment, they don't care about conservation, they just want to buy things cheap. As you probably guessed, walmart is REALLY big where I live. I am probably one of the few ppl who refuse to go there... funny enough one of my good friends' DH is the mgr at our local walmart, lol. However, she says that lately she's been shopping at target more often, but her dh doesn't care.

[s7714]

I hear you. I practically had culture shock when I moved from Oregon down to SoCal. I was used to recycling everything. My schools had recycling bins in every classroom; the restaurants had separate cans for recyclable vs. food waste; we had bins for each type of recyclable at home...it was just the normal thing to do. I can't tell you how many strange looks I got when asking where the recycling bins were at places after I moved. Luckily things have improved over the past couple years, but I still feel like they almost don't want to make it easier for people to recycle!

[tylersmama]

I totally understand. I live in a fairly green city, and I still don't have recycling! The thing that burns me is that our property taxes pay for trash and recycling services that we don't receive because we live in a condo, not a single family home. AND our HOA refuses to pay our trash provider the fairly small extra amount it would take to get recycling in our development. Grrrr. We've been complaining for 5 years and every year they say they'll look into it. I FINALLY got so sick of throwing away so much stuff that I went to the Container Store to get recycling bins for my garage. Now I just have to get motivated to take them to a recycling drop-off, since I've filled them to overflowing in just a little over a month.

And slightly o/t, but WHY WHY WHY does everybody look at me like I'm crazy when they find out I'm cloth diapering??? I can't stand the thought of putting all those diapers in a landfill. It really is hardly any extra work (1-2 extra loads of laundry a week) and SO MUCH CHEAPER than sposies. Seriously, I'm sick of the looks like I'm from another planet! Ugh.

[lisams]

That stinks. Sounds like they need to get with the times.

ps Your title reminded me of Kermit the Frog - didn't he sing a song like that?

[kijip]

When we moved to the suburbs briefly before moving to this house in the city, our apartment building had no recycling. I felt like I was on a different planet! We had to drive it to a collection center OR I would just take it to work with me in the city where there was recycling. Here I am totally spoiled, I have curbside recycling AND compost! You pay for the size garbage bin you have and the recycling is free and recyclables are no longer permitted in the trash. We have a tiny box for our garbage now- usually 1/2-1 small bag in it per week.

[hellokitty]

And slightly o/t, but WHY WHY WHY does everybody look at me like I'm crazy when they find out I'm cloth diapering??? I can't stand the thought of putting all those diapers in a landfill. It really is hardly any extra work (1-2 extra loads of laundry a week) and SO MUCH CHEAPER than sposies. Seriously, I'm sick of the looks like I'm from another planet! Ugh.

I get the same response. Ppl look like they are going to barf into their own mouth when they find out I am CDing. So many of them will start going on a rant about how UNenvironmental it is to use the electricity and water to wash a load of diapers (am I am in some sort of alternate universe????) and then they act like there is no possible way I could adequately, "sanitize" the diapers properly in a regular home use laundry machine. The first thing they say is, "wow, you must use a ton of bleach," and then they act like I spouted a third head when I tell them I don't use any bleach at all.

I feel like the majority of americans have such a crappy attitude about this sort of thing. Heaven forbid, that being a little more environmental will cause them actually have to rinse out a can or wash a load of diapers... oh the inconvenience. How dare anyone have the nerve to expect them to go through so much trouble. It's not like we are handwashing the dipes either! These are the same ppl who argue with me when I tell them that even if you use sposies, you should dump the poop in the toilet. "Oooh, that's so gross, NOBODY does that, they just throw it away like I do!" Is the response I get. :banghead:

[MamaMolly]

ps Your title reminded me of Kermit the Frog - didn't he sing a song like that?

Yep, and it was always a favorite when I was a lid. I guess that is why it stuck in my head!

Also to the PP about cloth diapers, I might be more inclined to do them if my washing machine worked well (we rent) but as it is I really would be doing major environmental damage if I tried. As it is, I have to do tiny loads of washing and then put 2-3 of those into the dryer together. It is a total PITA, but the washer won't spin if I do a larger load. But I wouldn't give you a weird look or think you were crazy for cloth diapering, and poop on anyone who does!

[misshollygolightly]

I agree 100%! But if your community doesn't encourage recycling, maybe you could focus on recycling within your home. I know it may not seem quite as dramatic, but maybe you can repurpose some jam jars as beverage glasses, use some collapsed cardboard boxes or newspapers to mulch your garden area in the winter, string up a clothesline in the summer, use a reusable tote bag for shopping (or use those plastic grocery bags for trash can liners) and--best of all--start a compost pile in a corner of your yard. This may not make *as* big a difference as being able to recycle all of your household plastic and cans, but at least you can know that *these* things won't end up in a landfill AND you can feel good about setting a great example for your kids. Also, for all its evils, it might be worth knowing that *most* Walmart stores have big recycling bins just inside the doors for customers to bring back their plastic shopping bags. One other idea: recycling programs make great projects for Eagle Scouts, Girl Scouts, churches, and other local groups. Maybe you can encourage someone you know to start something! Either way, kudos to you for caring!

[kijip]

I know it may not seem quite as dramatic, but maybe you can repurpose some jam jars as beverage glasses, use some collapsed cardboard boxes or newspapers to mulch your garden area in the winter, string up a clothesline in the summer, use a reusable tote bag for shopping (or use those plastic grocery bags for trash can liners) and--best of all--start a compost pile in a corner of your yard. This may not make *as* big a difference as being able to recycle all of your household plastic and cans, but at least you can know that *these* things won't end up in a landfill AND you can feel good about setting a great example for your kids.

Good ideas! I use glass food jars to supplement our pyrex and IKEA glass storage containers...for things like freezing broth.

[hellokitty]

Also to the PP about cloth diapers, I might be more inclined to do them if my washing machine worked well (we rent) but as it is I really would be doing major environmental damage if I tried. As it is, I have to do tiny loads of washing and then put 2-3 of those into the dryer together. It is a total PITA, but the washer won't spin if I do a larger load. But I wouldn't give you a weird look or think you were crazy for cloth diapering, and poop on anyone who does!

Molly, I didn't post that to make anyone feel bad about CDing, lol. I posted it, b/c I get irritated that ppl hassle ME about my decision to CD, and start debating about how unenvironmental it is. I can understand ppl thinking it's not for them, but for them to try to debate with me about how I am actually being unenvironmental for CDing just really ticks me off that ppl who don't even know what they are talking about have the nerve to act like know-it-alls, kwim? The ppl who have given me the hardest time about CD are actually the most unenvironmental ppl I have ever met, very selfish, entitled and materialistic types who think don't think about the consequences of their actions on other ppl, so I guess that is why it gets on my nerves when they try to lecture me about stuff like this. I mean, these are basically the same ppl who drive the ginormous SUVs.