Recycle Recycle

                Garbage and recycling day is coming up, how many of you recycle?

We live in a small town so we only have pick up every two weeks. Once a month we have recycling day. Depending on where you live and your town or city you live in will decide on your days and times for both recycling and garbage pick- up. Today I want you to think about all your garbage and recycling that you throw away each month. How many bags of garbage do you throw away each month and how much you recycle? Since we live out in the country we can also burn some of our garbage instead of throwing it away. Really think about this for a moment and be honest with yourself, do you just throw things away to save time or do you really recycle everything you really can? Go drive by a landfill once and really see all the garbage that we throw away, you would be surprised. So today I want to talk about recycling.

Landfills

                Like I said we live in a small country town and we have a landfill less than two miles away. Some parts of this landfill are now taller than the trees. I can see a mountain of garbage and don’t get me going on the smell when the wind it just right. When my daughter was in middle school in 7^th grade they had a class trip to the landfill to see first- hand what we throw away and waste. This was an eye opener for my daughter. Now she tells me what I can and cannot recycle. I think every school should visit a landfill so our children and grandchildren learn how to recycle and not waste so much.

Recycling

                Our little town each year sends out a letter in the mail reminding people to recycle and what they can and cannot recycle. Plus they have special days during the year to pick up bigger items like computers, phones and other big items that cannot be recycled during your monthly recycling day. Check with your city or town to find out what you can and cannot recycle.  Most cities and towns now give you special trash cans for your recycling.

Please use these and not throw things in the garbage. I have a special place that I throw my recycling each day, then at the end of the day, I throw them into my recycling can. If you don’t have a recycling can for pick-up place your cardboard and papers into a box or paper bag. Place all glass and any cans into a recycling plastic bag, when it is your day for your recycling just place the recycling out by your curb for pick-up. Recycling does not take a lot of time to do, so think of that big landfill filling up.

Burning

                We live out in the country so we have a burning barrel. Check with your city or town if you can burn. Since we can burn anything that is not recycleable, I now burn the rest. Burning is a great way to save on garbage bags and garbage being thrown away. My husband has an office where everything has to be burned, so instead of paying for a burning service, we burn everything at home. This saves us hundreds of dollars a year.

                So how much do you throw away each month, and how much do you recycle? Every month I have a full recycling barrel full from our home and from my husband’s office. They recycle in his office too. How hard is it to put a couple of baskets out for recycling?

We only have recycling once a month by us. Now, how much garbage do you throw out? We have garbage pick-up twice a month, and in one month for 4 people I have 4 bags of garbage I throw out.

Everything else is either recycled, burned or any food scraps are given to my chickens. Think about all the waste we produce and how it all ends up in the landfills. Make a conscious effort to use less and recycle more from Suzie Homemaker.