Help! Recycler Overboard!

 

Okay. So, I am having a recycling problem. It's kind of a small issue with my need to recycle and reuse…everything! In fact it is a bit of an obsession with me. And no, it is not a new obsession. If I think back far enough,or even ask my mother. I  could probably come up with a dozen things that I saved or wanted to save, to "do something with".  I know I am not the only one. I spoke to someone recently who is being taken over by water jugs in her kitchen and pantry. Yeah, you can say I am drowning in plastics, cardboard and colored glass, too.

As a consumer I am a creature of habit and riddled with guilt for my growing collection. Okay, it's not necessary to buy three Cran-grape juices, or two bottles Mineraguas or 2 cans of Izze...more than once a week is it? I am going into recovery soon. Until then, I am reconsidering my weekly excess. You see, I live in an apartment and I am on public transportation. So the convenience of picking up my evening refreshment outweighs my desire to bag up the goods and take them to the Farmer's Market to recycle.

 What do you do when you realize that you are a victim of overconsumption? As someone who has considerable respect for the environment, I am moving headlong towards a solution. I hope that together we can learn to consume less and still have what we want, need and desire.

Here are a few ideas that may be of use, if you are faced with a similar situation:

• Buy the larger version of the single serve size, save money, less impact on the environment, less to contribute to the 'collection'
• Make more of an effort to take some of the 'collection' everytime you go to the Market,  less to trip over in the kitchen or to greet you falling out the closet
• Ask the apartment complex to get a recycling dumpster or two, may have great returns for the complex, offer incentives to the residents to encourage them to participate
• Contact the county to see if they will provide bins for the complex
• My favorite solution of course, is to find creative ways to reuse the 'collection'. Jewelry is my reuse solution. Check me at http://ow.ly/46Ftb

 It's a work in progress so don't be surprised if you get an invitation to see a recycled glass bottle sculpture exhibit somewhere in Atlanta.

Til Next Time...Do it now!