The" how to" is answered by gathering the family around the "where to". The place to begin is with the family gathering around the kitchen table and talking about how much your family knows about recycling and asking each member to learn about some aspect of it. Every person above the age of two will benefit from being involved in this adventure.

The idea of becoming more responsible for our planet seems insurmountable and quite frankly daunting. Instead of allowing this to cause us to do nothing it should inspire us to do the things we can, which can, by the way, return significant and rewarding results. One example is: If every household in America just recycled their Sunday paper on one weekend some 500,000 trees would remain standing. This is a small and simple start to a very benificial and significant outcome.

My suggestion is that you find out where each family member is on this issue, especially the children, and start there and sloooooowly add new ways of recycling. If you have a curbside program in your city it is quick and easy, however someone in the family needs to contact your municipality and find out what they will pick up at the curb. Everything else, ie. old batteries, used motor oil, etc. have many places they can be dropped off. Note: Making this a family outing will involve everyone in the positive outcome and teach good citizenship at an early age.

If you don't have a curbside program there are many sites that accept recyclables. Some of these are part of a fast growing industry of recycling for profit, others are services of your municipalities.

You will find many resources on the subject, but I suggest you have the kids do the finding. A couple of sources to get you started are KAB.ORG (Keep America Beautiful) and Earth911.ORG. I promise you the benefits to your family will go far beyond a better and more sustainable planet. The mindset of looking to the future in a proactive way will enhance you and your children's feeling of self worth and create habits that will do good for a long time. Two small but meaningful ideas to leave you with. 1) Followup on discussions of how far your family has come in this adventure, and 2) Keep recycling symbols visable (The kids can draw them) as a reminder that something good is happening next to the trash can in your kitchen.

My hope is that you will find this helpful and that it will expand to your workplace and the kid's schools. My goal is to empower the young people to make their world a better place and I get to come along for the ride.