I turned my empty shaving lotion bottle upside down today to check for the little symbol that indicates it’s recyclability. I got a kick out of the text reading, “RECYCLE. ALWAYS.”, and then in french, “RECYCLEZ-MOI! S.V.P. (or, recycle me, please.)”
Pensacola recently initiated a curbside recycling program and I was all excited to sign up and get a 44 lb. container to put out my recyclables with my trash every week- only to be called by the county a few hours later to let me know that my home is located within the city of Pensacola (by two blocks!) and thus, not included in the program. The City of Pensacola, however, recently announced that it would be researching the funding and implementation of such a program.
Didn’t my teeny rural town in Washington State offer curbside recycling when I was in elementary school? I seem to remember singing aliens visiting our gym to let us know that our planet would be in peril should we decide to place the aluminum cans in the round trash can rather than the square blue one for recyclables. That was 20 years ago…
While Pensacola is catching up with the rest of the world (in some things- I still have neighbors that think it’s improper to shake my hand because I’m female), I’m going to refine what it is that I do so that I can be more like this guy.
Things I can continue doing:
thrift shopping, reusing grocery bags, upcycling grocery bags, shipping my store orders in reused/recycled materials, riding my bike instead of driving the car, donating unused items rather than throwing them away, freecycling, purchasing recycled…… goodness, there must be more….
Things to start doing:
canning, composting, gardening, more aggressive recycling (this means taking it to the drop off too!), using cloth or gdiapers when the time comes (soon!), purchasing more food items in bulk/dried states, using the fabulous totes I have for shopping (rather than plastic grocery bags)…
More about this in cool places:
Annie Leonard explains the cycle of consumption- where stuff comes from and where it goes at The Story of Stuff.
Artist/designer/generally-rad-person Kate Bingham-Burt draws her daily purchases over at Obsessive Consumption.
And, Sustainable Dave, who I saw this morning on Good Morning America, saved his trash for an entire year. That’s my kind of guy.
xo
elle
Tags: recycling2 Comments
2 responses so far ↓
We LOVE our recycle bins! It’s such a good feeling when your recycle bins are full and the trash can has only one bag in it. We also have a green waste can so that makes it really nice April thru October. It’s so much easier to just wheel the recycling to the curb in a city-provided can than try to keep it all collected nicely until you have time to take it to the recycling center. We are quite annoyed that they don’t accept glass though since it’s one of the easier things to recycle. Hopefully Pensacola will get it going soon.
I’m a student at the University of West Florida and I have to know where all these great shops you are finding around Pensacola! I’ve live in Orlando all my life so it’s been quite easier to find these places. I didn’t even know there was a flea market! Btw I follow you on twitter.