I was just curious if any of you recycle or are on a mandatory recycling program for newspapers, plastics, cans...etc.? I have 2 recycling bins one for papers and one for plastics and cans. We put them out on Monday night and they are picked up.
I know a few towns close to me have it mandatory for recycling but we just do it on our own.
Just curious, my son Tom for his senior project took on recycling at the school and he said you would not believe how much less garbage there is when all the classrooms do recycling. All the papers instead of going to the landfills get recycled.

By Amecmom on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 03:45 pm:

We have it here, too, even though we don't have municipal garbage collection, we are required to recycle. I've been doing it for so many years that I don't even think about it. I hope all the stuff I separate actually makes it to the recycling center.
Ame

By Bea on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 03:55 pm:

I'm a nut about recycling. Anything our city will take for recycling, is put into our bin. We have a smaller bin right outside our back door, and a big receptacle that gets wheeled to the curb every two weeks. We recycle glass, plastic, steel, aluminum, paper and cardboard. I reuse every bag that enters my house, and wash and reuse storage bags also. Plastic bags I can't use, are taken to the Consignment Shop where I volunteer for use there, or to our neighbor who uses them when he walks his dogs.

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 04:15 pm:

We have a private trash hauler that recycles. We fill our recycle bin and bring it out to the curb weekly.

By Texannie on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 05:10 pm:

We have biweekly trash service and weekly recycling.

By Dananivyboo1 on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 05:15 pm:

It is mandatory here. We even have to wash out the containers with water beforehand. I dont know what they would do if we didnt, but it is required. I like the fact that we recycle, its take up most of the trash space anyways.

By Colette on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 05:46 pm:

We also have a private trash hauler that recycles for us. Ours is bi-weekly though. I also try to buy products that are made w/recycled materials.

By Pamt on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 07:05 pm:

Recycle weekly here! When we lived in MO we didn't have a recycling program, so I still recycled and drove 15 miles away just to find a recycling dumpster. It does significantly cut down on our family's trash.

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 11:11 pm:

Of course I recycle. Our township recycles newspaper & other paper products on Mondays, and plastic(only #1 and #2 plastics)/metal/glass on the regular trash days. During gardening season you can put garden waste & grass clippings, etc., in a special heavy brown paper bag and it is chopped and mulched - anyone can take mulch at no cost. In the fall the township schedules leaf pickups (a huge vacuum cleaner truck) 3 or 4 times, and does a Christmas tree pickup in January.

I do it because it makes sense - anything that doesn't go in the landfill is fewer pollutants and lower landfill costs, which translates to slower tax increases.

The township is also part of a regional program which schedules dropoffs of toxic waste at least once a month in different locations, no questions asked. Just drop it off so it is handled properly by the waste disposal people.

By Marcia on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 12:01 am:

We recycle a couple of bins every week. One is for boxes like cereal boxes, one is for glass and plastic (almost every number), and we also put out a bag of paper and bundles of corrugated cardboard. It's picked up every Friday, as is garbage.

By Ladypeacek on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 01:24 am:

Well here they just started the recycling program and my dh is a recycle crazed man, We recycle everything! Our bin is the same size as our trash can! We overfill it every week!!

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 08:12 am:

It's required where we live. One week they collect newspapers and cardbord, and the next week, they collect plastic and glass in blue plastic bags. Our regular trash has to be in clear plastic bags, too. One time we were in Milwaukee and had to buy trash bags. They didn't even have clear ones at the Walmart where we were! So, now, we have this roll of plastic bags that we can't even use! LOL!

So, you need to keep track of whether it's a paper week or a blue bag week! I'm always looking out the window to see what my neighbors have put out! LOL! Sometimes I think it would be easier just to put everything out at once, every week! Alas, that isn't the system we have.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 08:40 am:

We recycling here and they keep threatening to do away with the recycling program due to the cost of it. I don't understand the thinking of some people! Guess they don't realize we ALL have to live on this earth..............I know in some neighboring parishes they've stopped the recycling programs, my mom's neighborhood doesn't have it, and it makes me sick every time I take stuff to the dumpster for her.

I am always teasing my DH and telling him we've got the cleanest garbage on the street because he is an absolute freak about washing everything that goes into the recycling bin.

By Palmbchprincess on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 11:57 am:

When I lived on post they made recycling REALLY easy. The gave us 2 rolling bins, one for trash and one for recycling. Both went out every week. Here, we don't have city bins for either one, and I'm not sure I've EVER seen a recycling truck come down my street. We have to take it to the recycle center. One kinda cool thing at the bar where I work part time, an older couple comes once a week and sorts all the bottles and cans in the dumpster, and collects them. The owner says they make about $400 a weekend from the cans and stuff they collect.

By Debbie on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 04:34 pm:

Yes, we recycle. Where we live you don't pay a monthly fee for trash pickup, you pay by the bag. So, it definitely pays to recycle. We have 3 bins and I recycle everything I can. We pay around $1.50 for each bag of trash, so It is worth it for us to recycle.

We have trash and recycle pickup each Friday. We just put our bins out with the trash each week.

By Mommyathome on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 08:39 pm:

We have private trash collection, but no option to recycle.
In fact, the nearest place to recycle is about a 2 hour drive. We just don't have the option here. It's too bad, because I would love to recycle.