About Recycling

I'm a big believer in recycling. It just makes sense to me that if we can reuse things, we really should. I mean, why create more of whatever it is if we can just reuse what we have. I've been taught the maxim, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" my whole life, along with a healthy does of "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." (Here's Jack Johnson, cuz he's awesome...lol!)

So pretty much I'm a believer in recycling. It's good for our planet (and, I firmly believe, our health) in so many ways. 

So you can imagine that when I'm driving home one day and I see a billboard that claimed that plastic recycling doesn't work, I kind-of go "pish!" of course it works. Then I saw a headline that claimed the same thing on one of the many places that headlines come flashing at me. Since I had seen it two different places, I decided to investigate. (Because that's what you do when people make what seem to be outlandish claims...or even not outlandish claims...these days. You investigate as best you can.)

Turns out plastic recycling isn't exactly a stellar thing and I'm rather heartbroken over that.

Here is a short list of things that depress me about plastic recycling:

    ~ Only about 9% of plastic gets recycled

    ~ Oil and gas companies (the makers of plastic) pretty much led us to believe recycling would work even though they knew it wouldn't work.

    ~Manufacturers put that awesome triangle on everything, even plastics that cannot be recycled. 

    ~Plastic consumption went up as a result, and will continue to rise in the foreseeable future.

So pretty much my efforts have been largely wasted. 

It's always a bit painful to have my ideas shattered a bit

My question is, what do I do now?

Here are my current answers:

1-Buy less plastic. If I can get it in cardboard, I go that route, because unlike plastic, about 68% of cardboard is recycled.* That's a much better number than plastic. 

    1-A-Find alternatives to the single-use plastic options. 

        ~I try to use fabric shopping bags (if you were really clever, you could make your own). 

        ~I try to use sandwich containers instead of sandwich baggies. 

        ~I also try to use every plastic grocery bag I get at least once or twice more (usually as garbage bags, which, while not ideal, does mean that I'm not buying garbage bags).  

        ~When I forget my reusable shopping bags, I get paper if they are available. They hold my carboard recycling until we can make a trip to drop it. 

        ~If I'm buying one thing, or it's something I can easily carry, I forego the bag altogether. 

2-Start cooking from scratch again. The amount of plastic garbage I'm tossing has lessened, and more of the garbage I'm tossing is biodegradable since I started this, and that makes me happy.

3-Find ways to reuse the plastic I have.

    ~Bags to Beds and other organizations teach you how to take those plastic shopping bags and turn them into sleeping mats for the homeless. 

4-Buy products made from recycled plastic. The main reason plastic doesn't get recycled is that it's not economically viable to do so. If we buy more post-consumer-products, then that money will funnel back into recycling. 

Here are couple of companies that I think are awesome in that regard:

Green Toys makes awesome toys for young kids that are made of 100% recycled materials, and as a toy expert, these are solid, durable toys. If you want to support local, you can find them at The Red Balloon Toy Store. (Yes, that's my store. I am neither sorry, nor getting a kick-back.) If I had kids that age, these are toys I would be buying.

&Collar makes amazing dress shirts that are, in fact, made from recycled bottles. All of my boys find them comfortable and sweat-free. I would buy their pants, but the store we bought them from didn't have anything small enough in the waist for my beanpoles. 

I can't fix the recycling problem by myself. I don't the manpower, the money, or the know-how. But I can support people who can. And I can live more fully by the two maxims:

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

and 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 

*Regarding recycling cardboard: If it has been stained with food or chemicals, it's not recyclable--so don't toss those greasy pizza boxes or used paper plates in!