"Why Should I Care?"

In my previous blog post, I vowed to make more of an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle. What I didn't talk about, in depth, was what can be recycled and why it should be done. Recycling is an easy step that most everyone can take in going green, this past weekend I decided to do some research on what exactly can be recycled, and what can't. It is important to know what you can put in your blue bin and more knowledge on the subject will only increase the likely hood that you will actually recycle.

In the city of Tampa there is a long list of things you can recycle, I found this information on Tampagov.net and was shocked by the amount of items on the list.


What can be recycled curbside in the blue recycling bin?

• Phone Books
• Paperback books
• Junk mail
• Cereal boxes
• 6-Pack soda boxes
• Office paper
• Cardboard*
• Magazines
• Newspapers & inserts
• Catalogs
• Plastic bottles (numbers 1 and 2 only)
• Aluminum and steel cans (including empty aerosol cans)
• Gable-top beverage containers (juice & milk containers)
• Glass bottles & jars (all colors)

So, now that I have armed you with this knowledge, get out there and recycle! But why, you ask? In my last post I touched on a few reasons why such as, using our resources in a smarter way, being less wasteful and trying to reduce the size and amount of landfills being created. This is an important topic to be discussed because not everyone realizes where our trash actually goes, and for how long it sits there.

In an article I found on ehow.com, "How Does Recycling Help the Environment" the author, Julia Fuller, gives a pretty convincing argument for why we should recycle. Fuller states, "According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are over 3,000 active landfills in the United States and over 10,000 old municipal landfills. Papers, including newspapers, are a major filler of modern landfills. If individuals would recycle all of their newspapers, they could significantly prolong the use of each landfill, not to mention save many trees from being cut down." Fuller seems to believe that newspaper is a major contributor to the size and the amount of landfills being created in the United States, this problem most likely stems from the fact that a lot of people don't even realize newspaper can be recycled. It takes no extra effort to put your newspaper in a recycling bin rather than a trash bin. So, as my motto suggests, start small and the next time you take out your trash, be sure to put at least the newspaper in the blue bin and, while you're at it, take a look at the rest of the list and see what else you have been leaving out.

I know this whole reduce, reuse and recycle thing is much easier said than done, and I also vowed in my first post to be as honest and up front about my journey in going green as possible. So I can easily admit that it's not always easy making the change and I have been thinking long and hard of ways I can reduce my consumption of materials. I have recently come to the realization that I have a tendency to overestimate exactly how much of a product I really need. For instance, when grocery shopping I tend to give in to the marketing schemes and buy way to much of a product that I will most likely not be able to consume before it expires. Next time you find yourself in this situation, think about how often you eat, or use the product and whether you will actually be saving money by buying more now, or wasting resources by throwing it out when it expires. After all, it is hard to waste resources when we learn to make smarter decisions about how much we need to buy in the first place!