HOW TO RECYCLE MOST EFFECTIVELY

There are two distinct approaches to recycling each has a very good Return On Effort (ROE). The most common items are Paper recycling(including cardboard) and Plastic recycling (both PET and HDPE). The ROE on these items comes from both the volume of their use in our lives and the ease of recycling them. What shows up most in the curbside recycling bins is generally also accepted at most recycling centers. To give you an idea of the volume of these efforts I give you a fact: (The amount of paper used to print the Sunday paper in the US, if recycled for just one day, would save over a half million [500,000] trees) . Just imagine yourself on a hill overlooking those Sunday papers, now imagine overlooking those trees. WOW!

The second group of items represents a toxic and long lasting danger to our soil and water supply. These include things such as :batteries (all kinds), computers, used motor oil, old paint and fluorescent lamps(including compact fluorescent bulbs). Each of these items contain highly undesirable substances that not only fowl the earth and its water supply but, they are not biodegradable, which means they will continue doing damage for many generations. I challenge you to make it a family project to research just how toxic these things are. My son Chuck and I own and operate RecyclingSupply.com because we believe this is important for all concerned. But rather than taking my word for it just think how powerful it will be for each member of the family to understand the ramifications of the items they use around the household. There are many good web sites with information to aid each family member to learn as well as to find answers to how and where to dispose of these recyclable items.

One interesting exercise to try is to go to NRC-RECYCLE.ORG and click on the [Recycling Calculator] (right side of page near the top) and calculate your energy footprint for your household. There is also a recycling center locator found on Earth911.org/recyclinglocator that will find centers near your zip code and help you know what items they will accept, hours of operation, etc. A couple of examples are; most auto parts stores will recycle your used motor oil for free and most electronic retailers have a free recycling program for your used electronics.

I realize this is a lot to get your arms around but as we are all learning, we need to change the way we look at being more gentle with this planet and recycling is a great start. I do however think the two most important things to do are to take some action right this moment and don't forget to recognize and celebrate these new behaviors. Those with young people in the home will be planting seeds of good citizenship that will make their own world better. Now that is a very high ROE.