Recycling ideas

To the editor:
    I wanted to share with your readers something that I have been doing for awhile now. With the massive exodus and run away price of the black stuff, we all seem to take for granted until it becomes a burden to our comfort levels and pocketbook. It’s something we all share. We all need to gas our cars and heat our home and take a hot shower, but we also need to share the burden of recycling so that there will be some for tomorrow.     I like to think of myself as one that is ahead of the curve. I have had a pellet stove for some time now and enjoy my home much more. At one point I had pellets stacked around me like sandbags on a temporary dam. It looks cool but it’s not really all that romantic you know.
    One day I had several bags saved up like trophies — spoils of war so to speak. My Dad and I do the transfer station on Saturdays and this particular day I opened the door of the car and well I should have taken that yoga class some time ago so I would have been able to stretch better to reach the stack of empty bags to unload. At that moment the light bulb came on — wow just like a shot of reality. The thought of the ‘big picture’. How many of these  bags are ending up here and what if there was another purpose, a next step? That day they did end up on a one-way trip.
    When I got home, I went to work. By my front door, I keep a five-gallon pail for stuff from the car (coffee cups, soda cans, napkins) and cat litter stuff I don’t want in the house. so I filled the stove that morning and with a pair of sharp scissors, I carefully cut across the bag and lined that pail with it. It was perfect fit — sometimes in life you get answers before you get the questions. This answer was right outside my door.
    Since then I have added a pail in the kitchen — it is great for wet stuff or anything. You could also put one in a workshop and bathroom, because you’re just going to throw it out anyway.
    We all need to do our part and recycle. Now I feel much less guilty when I go to the transfer station with Dad.
Michael Gudreau Sr.
Presque Isle