Waht was the tipping point that got you started on a greener path?

I had been thinking about it for a while and realized the importance of being green but handn't dived in till we bought our house which ment we had to pay for our own trash.

Well my DD had come home from school with a project about recycling and had asked if we could recycle cuz it is better for the earth.

I had no good reason not to so figured, now is better than never and we got started.

At the time our county didn't offer much choices for recycling. Basic plastics, clear/green glass, paper and cardobard. The mostly only took #1 & #2 plastics and deffinatly NOT #7 which made me really aware of what I bought.

Really #7 is not recyclable as it's layered plastic (think pudding cups that can seperate and be peeled apart). I don't know what htey do with them, maby they shred them and use it as a filler for somethin.

And it all jus grew from there.

I think about a year ago I was walking thru a bookstore and spied GREEN THIS book by Deidre Imus...it was rather alarming and left me awake wanting to know more....so I found more books and read, read, read.....still so much to learn but so exciting the amount of information out there and seeing so many things brought to the spotlight in the media. Recycling came to forefront when I found a city not too far away that took most plastics and I was excited to recycle more....now our city takes about everything and I am loving the ease of just putting it by the curb. I enjoy reading the bigger changes board members are making on their homes too....and as funds permit I want to be able to make better choices on materials we use.

We used to recycle nearly everything. Then over the years the kids grew up, we got lazy, didn't think what we threw away made that much difference in the big picture. When we watched An Inconvienient Truth, it kind of planted a seed, in my mind. Small changes can make a difference, more people paying attention, tends to make even more people pay attention?

An example of this is litter. If it is consistantly picked up in an area, people are less likely to deposit their trash in that clean area. A trashy area, tends to draw more garbage, because unthinking people don't think their additional deposit will matter?

We are back to recycling and that led to seeing all the piles of plastic milk bottles and water bottles that get thrown away. And those were just the ones that make it to the recycle spot. Now I go out of my way to buy milk in glass bottles, and am willing to pay more for it. I drink and carry tap water in a refillable thermos. Make extra coffee in the morning and carry an insulated mug to work with me.

Little steps, I know...but we are thinking.

I have to admit I live in a state and geographic area that makes recycling easy.

We've recycled paper ever since recycling became available in our area. We used to have to take it to the center - now all recycling is picked up. We're now down to a very small amount of garbage for just DH and I. This past summer our garbage company was on strike. At one point they didn't pick up for about 3 weeks. We didn't miss em at all.

AFter a while to me recycling becomes second nature. When visiting family out of state, I always start looking for the recycle container for bottles, jars, cans, boxes, etc. They have no recycling. Added to that, their trash is picked up twice a week. It's almost like people are encouraged to make more trash.

Now I'd like to get our recycling down. I'm trying to reduce the amount of packaged items we buy so less packaging in, less recycle out. I seem to have managed to stop all catalogs (I'll probably jinx myself by saying that!) and I'm trying to share magazine subscriptions with a couple friends.

ITA with Conrad -- no one is 100% but every little bit we improve we're that much ahead of where we were before!

TMS, we had a little get together this evening. We talked about being green. While we were jibber jamming back and forth we noticed that about 15 planes crossed the skies. Yes, we can make a difference but those jets that cross our skies each day ten fold are far more detramental to our atmosphere...

When living in Hawaii for 3 years, recycling was promoted more than in Indiana. Living on a tiny 'rock' in mid of ocean, I really got to thinking about 'where stuff goes!' Got into recycling and was amazed that AT LEAST half of our trash can be recycled!!! Now living in TN and we have a recycler that takes EVERYthing--which is great.

CJO

What DO they do w/trash in Hawaii? I never thought about it and now I'm cuerious!

I started, apparently, looong before most of you. I was about 10 or so, when we moved from the city to the very edges of the suburbs in the late-1960's. My mother subscribed to Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News. We had a garden, composted, canned or froze our own produce, reused the jars from pickles, etc. that were the same opening size as Ball canning jars. We made jelly. We did not have A/C, which reduced our use of power in the summer.

It has been a little more difficult lately, since we have been living in the city again and only have a 9x21 concrete patio. We are looking to build a home closer to our family (and back in the neighborhood were we grew up) which will reduce the amount of time we commute in the car.

I am trying to plan the house to be energy efficient, using as much of the latest technology as we can afford. That way it can be incorporated into the mortgage and, at the same time, reduce the cost of living in a more expensive area.

As long as I can remember I have been offended by waste. The idea of throwing something away when there is even a remote possibility that someone can get some use out of it offends me. That means old clothing goes to Good Will, the Salvation Ar_y, or the homeless shelter.

I was in Maine when they started 5 cent deposits on beer and pop cans and bottles. Even then I knew lots of folks who threw them out. I saved them and turned them in. My recyling has grown as the opportunities have increased.

quote:

Waht was the tipping point that got you started on a greener path?

hmmmmm??? tipping point or realization? I left AG farm land for college in SanFran and was shocked by the waste..... lol, in the mid 60s~~
After I graduated & married, burn barrel for trash, bury green kitchen waste as veggie fertilizer, recycle newspapers. donate clothes. the list escapes my memory but I definely remember hooking up a hose to the washer so the rinse water would irrigate the rose

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i've been recycling ever since i could. when i used to live in my condo, the building engineer always noticed that i always brought down a ton of recycling. well, since we had a recycling bin, why not?

now that i have a house & garden, i compost and it's cut down on our garbage. my neighbors think i'm nuts, but i'm trying to educate them slowly but surely.

i wish sodas would come back in glass. not only did they taste better but putting deposits on them would surely generate less garbage.

quote:

wish sodas would come back in glass. not only did they taste better but putting deposits on them would surely generate less garbage

in CA every beverage conatiner is recyclable & state agency monitors mandatory recycling drop off locations within a sliding scale from a grocery store. a local recycler is advertizing they buy clean aluminum 1.80$ per pound.

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California is leading the pack on the plastic water bottle use/disposal issue too!

Europe uses returnable/deposit glass soda and beer bottles also. Here the deposit would need to be high enough to encourage most people (especially teens?) to return and not break or discard.

Recent article here that glass baby bottles are making a huge comeback!

Seeing how full my trash can got made me start doing research on recycling. We save a our pop cans and return them for cash. My city doesn't have any type of recycling program at all (appalling, huh?) so I drive a couple miles to the city next to us that has a recycling center and mainly drop off plastics. I have just started trying reduce our water usage or finding ways to use some of the waste water we create, like water plants with my dish rinse water, which will really come in handy during this spring and summer for my flowerbeds.

I am an old hippie. I attended the first EarthDay celebration in Central Park, in NYC, and have been concerned, and active for over 40 years!

Let me see the first NYC Earth Day was in 1970. Right, were you in college or high school.
You are not old dovie, hippie days made lots of memories for all of us. We are still in our prime and you don't look a day over 30 to me.

Awww, Nights out, you are my new bestest friend, sugah!!! (I am 52)

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