Back in February, I wrote about things we do around our house to be more eco-friendly. One of those things is recycling glass, metal, paper, and plastic on a daily basis. Separating recyclable materials from your trash and recycling them is a fairly simple task when your township picks up the recycle. But what if it doesn't? While researching for that post, I discovered that we could in fact recycle MORE than what we had previously been saving when it came to plastic (our township only recycles #1 & #2 plastic), if I just brought it a few towns over from us. So, from that point forward, instead of throwing away all our yogurt containers, fruit & veggie clamshells, and old sippy cups, I started cleaning & setting them aside, with the rest of our recycle.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Of course, being pouring rain & windy by the time we arrived, there was no one around, and so the kids only got to observe the bike parts and recycle bins through our minivan windows. I managed to fill up FIVE CANS worth of recycle – did I mention it was raining? – and snapped a few photographs before hopping back in the car. Unfortunately due to the weather, we didn’t linger (though the town looks like it has an interesting walk-able downtown area, as well as a Farmer’s Market on Saturdays), and got back on the road home (the rainy, traffic-y, carseat screamy, ride home).
Image may be NSFW.
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All told, we spent nearly an hour on the road (approx 25 minutes each way) to recycle 5 cans of plastic. While I certainly felt good inside – both while saving up the recycle all year, teaching the kids about recycling, keeping plastic out of the landfills, and loading up those empty cans with our stashed recycle – I’m not sure, with the time spent on the road (much of it in traffic – so a lot of engine idling), how worthwhile it was in the long run. What I mean is, was my carbon footprint (certainly reduced by recycling 5 cans of plastic), then increased by driving 30 miles to recycle it?
At this point, I think we’ll keep doing what we’re doing because I can’t imagine going back to throwing all that plastic in the landfill! I sure wish there was a more environmentally-friendly way to get all the plastic from my house to the recycling station though. Next time, we’ll try to combine the trip with another outing – perhaps the Saturday Farmer’s Market!
So… do you recycle? How far would you/do you go to do it?
