Recycling has become so normal for us that we almost forgot to include it in out tips! I cannot even imagine throwing out all that plastic, tin and Styrofoam nowadays but a couple of decades ago it was normal. Some keys lessons we have learned about recycling however are:
1) Just because you can recyle does not mean that it’s a good thing to have a heaping box of recyclables. Rather it’s best to reduce the amount of stuff (especially packaging) that you buy in the first place. Ideally everyone would have a small load of recycling and an even smaller load of garbage at the curb each week.
2) Sort your recycling. This is something that I am still working on but Sustainable PF has down. The better you sort your recycling the easier it makes the lives of the recycling truck workers and they are less likely to leave stuff behind.
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Some places now allow you to leave your recycling unsorted, which is very convenient — here in Montréal we officially have “pell-mell” recycling where you throw everything together in your recycling bin and there’s no need to sort, it all goes in the truck and is sorted at the recycling centre. People are more likely to recycle when it takes less effort on their part.
Yup, where I live we don’t have to have it sorted (other than paper separated I guess) But we also cannot recycle Styrofoam and certain plastics.
Once I diligently began recycling everything that could be recycled I saw my garbage waste go down drastically. I barely even need to put my garbage out once a week! It’s great!
I actually pay money to have my recycling picked up at my house because I know I am too busy (and lazy?) to drop it off somewhere. Recycling is important to me so I feel it is an expense that is worth it to ensure that I stay on track and recycle instead of adding to a landfill. I am fortunate in that the company that does my recycling does not require the items to be sorted.
In Los Angeles, they provide us trash cans to separate our recycling. I used to store papers and cans and take it to a recycling center years ago. This makes it more convenient!