I grew up in Ohio. Being green or recycling is just not something that was very popular in the area where I was raised. It's sad really. If I would of know years ago how easy it is to recycle and the benefits, I would of started awhile back! The photo below is the Rumpke landfill located near the area of Ohio that I grew up. I drove by this thing my entire life. I chose this picture because it was literally taken on highway 27. This is the view that I saw when I would go to work or shopping daily...
Last year when I moved to California things changed. The beauty of the change that happened to me, is that NO ONE changed me or forced me to change. It was all me and on my own. Things influenced me or I'd like to say "opened my eyes" to things I had never thought of before. First of all just driving across the country and seeing mountains and beautiful scenery opened my eyes. I felt so connected to mother nature and just saw what natural beauty our planet really has to offer us. It really made me want to do my part to help keep it that way!
My roommate that I rented a room from in California recycled. She had probably 6 different small trash cans lined up in her garage where you could place glass, plastic, newspaper, etc. into! It was easy. It would take months for it to really get full enough to have to empty. In the city of Lompoc, CA there is a small recycling center where everyone would drive their recycling to. You did get paid for your recycling also. Since I was only there for a few months I don't know all the details of how the recycling works. I do know she took it all once and it was enough money for her to purchase tons of food. She used the money to purchase steaks and have a cookout for her friends. I guess if getting paid for your recycling helps motivate you, go for it! Whatever works. :) She did it though because she wanted to. The money was just a perk. Here are my main reasons for recycling...
1. I LOVE how good it makes me feel // Really it does. It sounds cheesy I know! I feel so happy when I put something in my recycling bin at home or drop recycling off!
2. It's good for our planet & future generations // If you have young family members, children, grand kids, etc... You should consider it for them. All of us have some outside activity that we enjoy. Like I said earlier it all goes hand in hand. Let's keep it clean for us and them to enjoy. :)
3. I want there to be a clean planet for my kids // The thought of my kids not being able to go see the Rocky Mountains or Yellowstone National Park breaks my heart. We all have to learn to take better care of our planet. I want my kids to be raised loving outdoor activities. Know what real mountains are like, not "Mt. Rumpke".
4. It's easy // It is. It took us months to fill up just one small tote of glass jars! If you get yourself some cheap plastic totes, bins or trash cans and get organized you would be amazed at how easy it is.
5. We only have 1 bag of trash a week // This amazes me. This just proves to myself that just about everything that you view as regular trash can be recycled. Before we recycled and we lived at our old apartment, I think we took a bag of trash out daily! Trash bags are expensive also, so it's saving us money!
We are lucky to have a large trash can provided for us for our recycling. They take plastics 1 - 2, cardboard (which is what most food boxes are made of!), junk mail, paper, tin and aluminum. There are many recyclables though that our trash pickup will not take: Glass, plastics 3 - 7 and plastic bags. Now that I pay attention to the amount of bags that stores give you, I use my own shopping bags when I grocery shop. What a great thing it is to not have to bring all those plastic grocery bags home!
Being on our plant based diet we buy tons of produce. Which means lots of the clear produce bags. They are all recyclable so I make sure that I recycle them. We probably use 40 - 50 bags grocery shopping a month. That's just one person. Imagine how many we are all using together? So, it's a huge help to the planet to recycle them verses just throwing them in the regular trash can. Last weekend we drove all of our recycling that could not be recycled in the state of Wyoming down to Ft. Collins, Colorado....
Don't I look happy? I was. I was super excited to be able to leave all my plastic bags at the recycling center!
Cody says I am a nerd! Whatever, maybe I am. I don't care what people think.
I know what I am doing is a very good thing. :)
That huge Disney bag held so many bags. It took months to accumulate all those bags:
Produce, shopping bags, food packaging, baggies and anything that was plastic of any sort went in there!
It was a good day! Now our garage is empty and I am starting my recycling over.
I hope to come up with a cute decorative way to organize my recycling, I just haven't thought of anything yet.
IKEA has great recycling bins, so I might just buy some of those next time we go.
It touched my heart more then any quote ever has in my entire life.
That is me and where I am in my everyday life!
That is also why I decided to post this and share my feelings with you.
I'll leave it at that.....
Love,
Jessie
how awesome!!
ReplyDeletego girl!
i love recycling!