A couple of days ago a friend posted a link on Facebook to an article from a company marketing zero-waste products, whose very title was living its fullest social media potential: 11 Things You Really Should Stop Recycling (actually, it looks like the original title as embedded in its URL was “11 Things You’re Recycling Wrong). The list included these items that should not go into your recycling bin, and I feel as though a mandatory piece of clickbait was omitted: #8 will SHOCK you!! :
Plastic Bags; Pizza Boxes; Gift Wrap; Small Metal Bits; Receipts; Food Residue; Broken Crockery; Diapers; Shredded Paper; Coffee Cups; and Paperboard Boxes.
Now, I don’t share this list to start pie fights over what is or is not recyclable in your area, or to wonder exactly who puts clearly Not Recycling Stuff in their bins. File it under a new-to-me term, Aspirational Recycling — the hope that even if YOU don’t know what to do with it, Someone Else will. What I hope you’ll do after you grab a beverage (NOT one in a single-use plastic container or coffee cup, please!) and hop over the story break is join me in a discussion of reduce-reuse-recycle...
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I reposted that link with the following comment:
The #1 thing we can all do is buy fewer things that cannot be recycled. This means:
- Bring your own containers when you go out to eat for leftovers.
- Get your meat wrapped in paper at a meat counter instead of on styrofoam or plastic trays (neither of which are easily recyclable, if at all).
- Choose products that will not need to be recycled, or packaged in glass or ‘desireable’ plastic.
- Choose e-receipts and paperless methods.
- Support companies using responsible packaging and yes, until that market is thriving it WILL probably be more expensive.
- Join your local Buy Nothing or Everything Is Free group and give your Stuff new life, or give new life to someone else’s Stuff. Honestly, I’m amazed at what can be rehomed- I found someone who took ALL my packaging from a large monitor purchase and saved a giant pile of disposed petroleum product packing material from the incinerator!
- Advocate for legislation that advances zero-waste policies.
What else can you add to this list?
My friends did not disappoint, adding “Use bar soap/shampoo not liquid”; “Cloth not paper napkins”; “No more K-cups!”; “Reduce ziploc bag use”; and one friend shared her hospital’s use of compostable urinals, bedpans etc… wow!
Here at Casa Brillig, we’re committed to everything in my original list as often as is practical. Yes, I felt weird the first time I brought my own container for leftovers, until the server said “Cool! You’re the first person to do that but it’s a great idea!” Alas, my meat CSA packages its chicken in plastic trays, but not its other kinds of meat. I know they explained why and I’ve forgotten, but I’m making that exception because I feel locally farmed meat is important. I have gotten rid of several more items in my house that would otherwise have been thrown away via our Buy Nothing group, which makes me really happy! We also have converted almost every light in our house to LEDs and are happy with the results.
We have a long way to go still. An attempt at a powdered laundry detergent in cardboard packaging is the likely culprit in Mr. Brillig’s Christmas Skin Rash, so we’re back to our usual Method liquid detergent until we can do proper tests on other detergents. I haven’t found a bar shampoo that works on my curly hair as well as liquid, but hope keeps me trying.
I know that the bit of plastic or styrofoam my little household is a drop in the bucket on a global scale, but I really believe that being intentional about my personal usage keeps me focused on the larger issue (see: Advocacy, above). Plus, if everyone does a little bit, it matters. Kind of like one little vote, when added to all the other little votes!
So, what do you have to add to my list! How do you cut down on waste, creatively upcycle items, or find innovative ways to turn one person’s trash into another’s found material? Take a look at our Tops (brought to you tonight by BeninSC) then share in the comments!
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