Life After Recycling

Now that I cannot (more accurately, will not) recycle at the curb, I have made a few adjustments to at least recycle what I can. My sister uses all our newspapers at school, and when they're done, they have a paper recycling program. Also, I have been far more reliable in my plastic bag recycling at the grocery store. The dead batteries are still going to work. The glass and aluminum have been more of a challenge, and for now, they are just going in the trash.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be throwing a lot into the trash that should be handled elsewhere. The family has already told me they are thankful for not having to recycle stuff any longer. This tells me I need to be more diligent in other areas. Turn down the heat? Turn off the lights? Drive slower? Something can be done.

For this Christmas, I have asked Mountain Dad to decorate the outside of the house with fewer lights. Also, to use LED's where it makes sense. The local hardware store had a sale on LED Christmas lights, but I can't bring myself to buy them when we have soooo many of the older mini-lights. The good (?) news is they're starting to fail. If we don't get some LED's before Christmas, we'll certainly look for some on sale after the holidays.

In the meantime, I think I'll have the family continue to put aluminum cans in a separate bag. I think they need to stay in the habit, and you know...I might just find a place to recycle them.