To recycle or not to recycle

So up until last week, trash was trash. In Las Vegas, there is a recycling program. They will deliver to your house a red, a blue and a white crate. Each crate holds a different type of recyclable - one is for glass; one is for plastic; one is for aluminum cans. And then you have to remember when to put the crates out for recycling, cuz they only get picked up every other week.

When we moved into the house we are in now, there were no red, white and blue crates so we just threw everything into the trash. It seemed too much of a hassle to set aside a bag for all the cans we used, another one for the glass bottles, and yet another one for plastic and yet another one for paper products. We could have done that and then driven them down to the recycling center by ourselves, but who has that kind of time?

But now, our neighborhood has been selected by our trash company to participate in a new program. They delivered to our house, at no additional charge, two 96 gallon containers. One is for trash; the other is for recyclables. And there is no more sorting. All our recyclables go into the one container: plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, paperboard, aluminum. So because we no longer have to sort, I went out and purchased a separate container for the house so we can separate our trash from recyclables.

It's amazing how much of our trash was actually recyclable. The trash now goes out every other day and the recyclables have to go out twice a day on some days. Of course, the first couple of days, I was digging recyclables out of the trash cuz I couldn't get the guys to get the hang of it. So I taped the list that the rubbish company supplied to wall above the blue container and told the guys before they throw it in the trash can, check the list and make sure they're putting it in the correct container. Incidentally, I purchased a blue container (intended use is supposed to be a laundry hamper) so the boys will know that that is the recyclable container.

After just one week, everyone in the house is on-board! It feels really good to be a part of the solution to 'green' up our neighborhood!