Stopping by the transfer station to pick up purple bags, I am informed that the price has gone up slightly, now $31 for 10 bags instead of $30. I applaud this increase, because the more we pay to throw away every little thing, the more thought we will give to how many of those things we can “dispose of” for free.
If you don’t think of recycling as a way to protect the planet and preserve it for your grandchildren, then think of recycling as simple economics. You save money. Unless you are one of those who are illegally burning your trash or dumping it in someone else’s dumpster, you somehow pay for trash disposal. The less trash you generate, the less it costs.
So on this trip to the transfer station, while celebrating the increase in rate, I made some observations that I wanted to share.
The truck in front of us was full of cardboard boxes. Great big cardboard boxes. One pick-up truck pulls in front of the cardboard truck and the truck is full. Please break down your cardboard. It’s one of those jobs I don’t especially like. I make my husband do it. He worked in an industry that required it and he has a special knack and talent for it. I think you’re getting the picture now of how I recycle, the grandchildren sort my plastics, the husband breaks down my cardboard, and I get all the credit!
While I’m in paying for my bags, a gentleman shares that he “got in trouble” for trying to put pizza boxes in with the cardboard. Yep, I’ll say it every column if I have to, no cardboard that has come in direct contact with food, especially pizza boxes. We have been given a huge gift in being able to recycle more cardboard than ever, don’t contaminate the cardboard with your pizza boxes.
I then go grab my box of glass to recycle and I notice that a lot of people are leaving the lids on their glass containers. Now here’s the thing with lids — lids are not glass, first of all. Second, lids don’t go in the tin can collection bin either, because most lids have rubber seals and that little bit of rubber contaminates the entire process. Maybe, just a thought, but maybe Pine Tree might want to consider a very small trash can for “lids” — they are trash, unfortunately, unless you can come up with a craft idea to use them for (I save mine for art projects believe it or not), but maybe if there was a “lid bin” it would alert people to remove lids and when it’s full then the transfer station could just dump them in the trash?
We are, as a people, “visual.” If you tell us it often goes in one ear and out the other, but if you show us, it usually sticks. So that’s my sharing for the day, remember you will save money if you recycle, remember no pizza boxes, remember to take your lids off. Simple steps, who would think we could save an entire planet with just small simple steps, but we can, and we will!
