TAKE ACTION TUESDAYS: RESEARCH SPECIALTY RECYCLING OPTIONS
Take Action Tuesdays are back! And this week I wanted to talk about recycling. It’s one of those things that sounds so easy (just get a recycling bin!), but in truth there are a lot of details that I honestly still get confused by. Take shopping receipts, for example — they could be recycled because they’re just paper, but they shouldn’t be because many contain BPA. Or we could talk about styrofoam, which takes about 500 years to break down in landfills. And the sad thing is that it’s possible to recycle this material, but there are very few plants that actually do it.
And those are just a few examples of how confusing this subject can be. However, what I have found is that if you take just one item at a time and develop a routine, it becomes a bit easier. Sure, there are your regular recycling bin items, but there are many other items we could be recycling, and new programs starting all the time!
This was all prompted by one such new program at my dentist’s office. They are now actively collecting all empty dental-related products to recycle through one of the big dental product manufacturers. And they’re even getting paid by the pound for whatever they collect (which they are donated to a dental-related cause in our state, I’m happy to report — a double-win for impact!). While some dental products are pretty straight forward with regards to recycling, things like empty toothpaste tubes were not on my current radar, so I am thrilled to be expanding my own abilities to recycle through this new program.
Whole Foods is another recycling hub that we take advantage of for both plastic bags and wine corks (more of the latter than we would like to admit, lol).
Of course, the best way to recycle is to reuse or avoid buying in the first place! But, for those of you like us who are still working towards those goals, take action this week by researching one new specialty recycling option to make a difference. Our planet will thank you!
#givingback #makeadifference #recycling
