We recycle as much as possible. At first we left large plastic, paper, etc and now we add milk tabs.

Yes, as much as possible. I also try to generate as little trash as possible-reduce & re-use. As I was reminded by a schoolteacher "away is a place". There are plans for a land fill outside a nearby small town. They're not too thrilled about becoming the next "away". Now that's it hitting close to home, literally, I do my best to be conscious of my footprint.

I love to repurpose items as much as possible, and a full garage to prove it. Where I live, in the country, recycling is made easy because you put everything in one big container to be put out next to the trash container. My city friends have to sort everything out before putting it out. I think it would be advantageous for our cities to make recycling easy, convenient and less of an eye sore to get more people to participate.

Our trash company does it for us :)

Kinda. It's very inconvenient to do it where I live in Wyoming. The garbage company charges only $10 a week for three large garbage cans!! There is no recycling pick up. I try to bring some things to recycling drop off points. But it's hard to do that when my garbage cans are not full.

Life long recycler here. I recycle everything. Living very rural in northern MN, we don't have pick up, but have a great set up twice a week at a local grocery station in town. Recycling is too easy not to do!!

yes of course, here in Montreal, Quebec we have 2 days regular trash pick up, and one day recycling. It really makes a difference, as now I only have a small bag of regular trash to put out.

The question is “why wouldn’t you recycle”? Can you imagine the OUR future world if we don’t? It will be one huge round dump.

At home we do recycle, unfortunately our office location doesn't pick up for recycling. Perhaps we'll aim to implement an office recycling program as our New Year's resolution!

I have recycled at home for 24 years despite growing up without ever hearing the term. I have heated discussions with my dad who thinks recycling is stupid and he should be paid to do it while I pay for curbside pickup of plastic, paper, cardboard and glass (until the provider quit accepting glass). I take e-waste to Best Buy and pay the fee (and then they give me a store credit in return. I take hazardous waste...motor oil, paint , fluids etc to our county hazardous waste site which requires making an advance appointment. I take batteries to auto parts stores, Radio Shack and Batteries Plus. Recyclespot is a source to look for places to recycle. I feel I owe it to future generations.

Oh yes. We bought 3 huge heavy duty shopping bags from Ikea and we put our recyclables in them, when full we visit our local metro recycling spot. The bags work great for storing/hauling. They are hanging on the wall in our workshop.

iamjudy, you really need to rent the DVD, "Wall E". Great movie with a great message. :)

I hate waste of any kind!! People need to really rethink where all our throw-away things go!

My town just gave us a super sized co-mingled recycle container on wheels!!! I am in heaven.

I know its wrong but I must admit I don't recycle the dog and cat food tins - those stinky things go straight in the garbage!

We have been recycling for years. I still feel like a demented raccoon, washing the garbage, but it's required so there you go.

@Laura Benjamin - now I'm picturing raccoons washing and sorting recycling as they go through the trash and it's cracking me up. Thanks for the mental image. :) (I swear the raccoons around me are like a biker gang, they have NO FEAR.)

Just make sure that everything you put in the recycle bin is truly recyclable. I've read that contaminated recycling waste adds enormously to the cost of recycling. And I rinse everything before putting it in the bin - it's easy to toss things in the dishwasher to clean them. I try not to buy products that either come in non-recyclable containers (like those sterile packs that chicken broth, etc., come in) or have excessive packaging. Costco is a major offender on the latter.

Recycling is a joke. It's all about money at the transfer stations. There not near enough recycling facilities so the recycling ends up with the rest of the regular trash. Been in the trash business a long long time

The county that our vacation home is in doesn't recycle glass or paper, so I bag it up and haul it back home to be recycled. Not an easy task, cause the stuff piles up so quickly, but conscience want let me trash it.
Nor will it let me buy styrofoam plates/cups.

And dianesp, your post states exactly what my son( a smart business man) says. What a shame!

On the other hand, if we didn't make any effort to recycle then the logic would be that there shouldn't be any/more recycling facilities because no one would be willing to put in the effort of separating things out. At least by making an effort you're demonstrating that there is a demand for things to be treated in ways other than dumped in a landfill - we might not have mastered making the entire process work for us yet, but demand = potential money to be made, so perhaps someone is working on it. (Or perhaps we need to also be active in a civic sense and keep an eye on where the recycling we put out actually ends up, and bring it up with various appropriate government authorities if it isn't being recycled. Again, demonstrate demand and interest.)

Yes, everything that I can. I hate the thought of land fills growing taller every minute.

I live in a not super-major metro area, with Waste Management as the vendor. We have a small garbage container, a much larger lidded recycle bin where paper, plastic and metal go co-mingled, and a small laundry basket size bin for glass. All are picked up curbside, and we are only charged for when they go out. Oh, and yard debris bins, also picked up curbside. As we have had a bottle deposit bill since the 1970s, it's old hat to take soda cans, water bottles, beer bottles back to the supermarket. You just feed them into a machine, it spits out a voucher for the dollar amount and you hand it in when paying for your groceries, or just go in and get it cashed out. I can't imagine another way, although I understand it is not economically possible in many geographic areas.

We recycle each and everything that can be recycled and compost coffee grounds veggie waste and yard clippings. We sell the cans and glass bottles for cash. Use the compost in the veggie garden.

I've heard that the request for rinsing, and the banning of certain things like dog food bags, is an attempt to reduce rats and pests in recycling facilities. I recycle just about everything I can. The city makes it easy. Hopefully it's not just for show.

I never thought about putting my dog food bags in recycling! Thanks for the tip.

Our city makes it easy to recycle with weekly pick-up of blue-bin items (glass, plastics, styrofoam, metal, cardboard and paper), green bin (any food scraps, waxed or parchment paper, greasy pizza boxes, cardboard coffee cups, used paper-towels, etc.) and yard-waste. I'm left with one small bag of garbage every week, which could easily be picked up every-other week. Unless you have lots of diapers, hardly anything goes in the garbage here. I just wish that companies would cut back on all of the plastic packaging (you know, the kind you can't open, and always cut yourself on), as this can't be recycled. I even pull the plastic out of the kleenex box and put it with the plastic bags, and the cardboard goes into the paper bin. All used batteries, fluorescent bulbs, leftover paint, etc., we take to the waste transfer station. They even have a re-use centre on site for any re-usable items. Many of the employees at the transfer station are physically and/or mentally challenged, and I think it's fabulous that our city provides jobs for those who would otherwise have great difficulty finding work or be unemployed.

[Yes, I recycle-everything.] Try not to get upset w/me here, this is just some food for thot.

The fact that local government sponsors a recycling program is good. But unless that program is mandatory, consider what is actually happening; that it is not cost effective. Every 'pound' of trash that goes to the landfill is paid for. Every pound of trash kept out of the landfill is, in effect, a cost savings. If there is a recycling program in place, there is a cost for that as well. How can it be considered cost-efficient to pay for a recycling system - if everyone isn't required to use it? Why do we allow recycling to be a choice? If we [local gov'ts] have determined that recycling is smart, such that we've invested in a recycling program, then why don't we require that everyone 'invest' in that program? [The short answer is that politicians don't want to be seen as the enforcers of change...the bad guy for 'making' one do what they don't want to bother with.]
Every pound of trash that goes to the landfill that might otherwise be recycled, cuts into the cost-effectiveness of the landfill budget and cuts into the cost-effectiveness of the recycling budget = double negative. Paying the cost of a recycling program is good in that it takes items out of the waste stream: Great. But not following thru w/that objective by requiring everyone to abide it, is simply not good business. The more people who abide the recycling program, the more cost-effective it is: Why would you 'pay' to set up and run such a program, then immediately reduce your chance for its efficiency by having it voluntary?

Recycling was a necesssity up to the mid 20th century because there were no credit cards , people lived off their income. Today we are a charge it, instant gratification world, a throw away society and our planet tells us so. We are destroying our environment. Thanks to all who recycle.

Duh.

The city gives us the big blue bins, no excuse not to.

@lazidazi - In England where we had the really picky recycling scheme (had to separate stuff out, etc.) they'd fine you if they noticed your landfill rubbish regularly had too much recyclable materials or stuff that should've gone in the compost bin. In theory, at least - I never got fined and have no idea if anyone actually WAS fined. But they had the ability to do so, at least.

yes we do recycle ....its super easy in our city no sorting required and its being responsible

We reuse, repurpose and recycle and compost. The actual garbage is pretty much used kitty litter and any non-recyclables/compostables. In other words, not much garbage goes out.

Our society consumes natural resources that will not be available to generations that follow.
We must promote recycling at all levels of society and in all communities by providing education/ available sites/ and increase demand for products developed fr recycled goods.

what a response - my trash compactor recycles all paper, lightweight plastic lightweight cardboard. I only put out about 1 grocery sack of trash every week. I get crazy when I visit friends in other states and they have almost no recycling...whats up with that

Just curious, isaacc6. How does your "compactor recycle all paper, lightweight plastic & lightweight cardboard"?

Do Monarch stone have an agent or rep in Ireland, if so where about.

It's Not Easy Being Green. we need to drive 35miles EACH WAY in order to recycle, and even then they don't take cardboard. we have a greywater system. we save all metal for the scrap recycle hillbilly down the road. we compost. we don't take newspapers. and we eat mostly food we grow on our own farm, and bread/pasta we make ourselves. we don't burn trash, we haul it into town (12 miles) once a week. but things are really rural here...no cell service, water from our well, tv/puters on satellite....etc.

Recycle at home and at the office. Also, we are committed to repurposing and/or buy used whenever it makes sense, which is often. We love buying vintage furniture and giving the pieces new life. Craigslist and eBay are my friends! Being environmentally friendly, I must admit, is really just a happy byproduct of my mid century modern habit!

We started slowly, but over the decades, it just got to be another part of our daily routine: recycling paper, plastics, etc., and composting kitchen wastes (but only plant matter). The local computer coop accepts retired electronic hardware, and Kroger takes plastic bags. Recycling styrofoam is also possible, but requires a 70-mile drive for us. We average about 1-2 trips a year, or whenever we've filled up two 50-gallon bags (leaf and yard waste size). The wood that was used to make the styrofoam recycling station came from IKEA, in their "as is" section. The design was my husband's.

The only thing I don't recycle are my personal papers. Bank statements, old pay stubs, credit card statements. Those I collect & a couple times each year my neighbors & I have a big burn out in my back yard. I don't trust anyone to destroy my personal info.

We recycle almost everything. Anything sensitive, we shred using one of the commercial services (where you can watch them shred it).

The one thing we haven't done yet, is to resurrect our composting. We stopped when we have to move out of the house during the renovation. Now that we've been back (for about six months), we still have not yet got back into it only because we haven't bought a compost bin (our last one got dumped out during construction). I am amazed at how much stuff goes into the trash that in the past, we would have composted.

Of course I recycle! Everything that I can find where to recycle - I do it! For example, In my office, we needed a clearance(stuff like old, unused papers and machines to be cleaned) so we called these guys http://berkshireofficeclearance.co.uk/ and they did their job perfect! If you need such services these are the best!

If you can make some kind of impact then why not?

We have been recycling since 1975 even though we usually have to drive our recycling 20 miles to a bin when we do our weekly grocery shopping. I even bring the plastics they don't recycle here to another city where they do when we visit there. We don't have much trash.

My husband and I live in a small suburb, called St. John's Wood, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. When we take our dog for a walk we pick up any rubbish that people have dropped on the street and footpaths. I take a bag and plastic glove to pick up the rubbish. And then put the rubbish in our recycle bins when we get home. It is still hard to believe that people that live in this small suburb do not care and/or realize that by throwing their rubbish on the street it eventually gets washed into the stormwater drains and into the creek that circles the suburb on three sides. So far I have not seen who throws the rubbish onto the street, but will certainly ask them to pick it up, if I do see them.
Do they not care about their own environment??
We have a green (garden rubbish, clippings) recycle bin and a yellow (paper, recyclable plastics, bags, bottles, metal etc). I also shred old documents and bag them up for our friend, (who works at the local school), to put them into either his compost bins and also the local school's compost bins.
I also try to buy products in glass containers rather than plastic ones too.
Thanks to everyone that does their bit and puts all their rubbish into the proper bins.

I definitely believe in the three R's: reduce, reuse and recycle! I want to do my part to preserve the environment for future generations. #BeSeenBeSafe

Yes, I've gotten a little nutty with recycling, even by my own standards. My city recycles glass, paper, cans, yard trash, etc., but the area where our vacation home is located doesn't do glass - so I haul it back to the city. Can you imagine all those Corona bottles after a long weekend of friends. I keep doing it because it's very disturbing to know that a great deal of recyclables will be around for eons. And, it's not all that hard to do and it makes me feel good.

Yes but I hate it. Having to wash out garbage annoys me and wastes water.