Trash and Recycling

My community has tried to be progressive with recycling, and had a "blue bag" program that allowed us to mix recyclables: aluminum cans, tin cans, glass, newspaper and plastic in blue bags that could be placed on the dumpsters and picked up regularly.  The local stores even used plastic blue bags so we did not have to buy commercial blue bags which were also available.  However, this was not a successful recycling program.

So, currently, the city has drop off locations where we can bring the same kinds of recyclables. I recycle.  I actually have recycled for more than 33 years, long before I came to Texas... In fact, when I first came to Texas, recycling was not common.  I lived in an apartment, and took my aluminum cans to a recycle station and dropped them off, not waiting for payment, which was apparently unheard of. I no longer recycle aluminum for payment, but at one time, I did and garnered tidy sums of money for the effort.

It is amazing to me, how much trash we produce.  I have just a small trash can under the sink, and use store plastic bags.  In the summer, because I use scoopable cat litter, and place the deposits in plastic bags before putting it in the trash, I take the trash out to the dumpster almost every day.  I think of how much more trash I would be putting in the dumpster if I did not recycle. 

Recycling is a business, and there is at least one company where I live that will pick up recyclables for a fee. 

It would be really good if more people would recycle. 

I have to get better at it... I bring plastic drink bottles to work, and do not recycle those: something I can improve upon this year.

Hoarding

I have often explained my inability to throw things away as a genetic disorder, or being anal retentive or both.  But, I was kidding.  However, quite a bit of study has been done on hoarders, and there is some thought that it is a genetically linked disorder.  So, maybe I was not so far from the truth after all.

My parents were savers.  A lot of that was generational, having grown up in the depression era, and in families that were not well to do, but worked hard for what they had. So, my parents were appreciative of material things.  Understandably so.  And, they were recyclers, and savers. Until later in life, when they started cleaning things out.  But even so, there was plenty left when my mom, that last to die, passed away.

Hoarding and saving are different.  Hoarding seems to take saving to an extreme, maybe to the point where it becomes a health hazard.  And, different people hoard different things, although newspapers are often a common item to hoard.  And, some people hoard animals:  you have heard of the people who have so many cats that their house is unsanitary, and they can not afford to feed themselves, because of the expense of feeding the cats...

Well, this week at work, for training, we read some articles about hoarding, which where I learned that there may be something genetically linked to hoarding.  

So, having it be genetic does not give me permission to become a hoarder.... For now, I will say I am a saver, because although I have piles of paper on my desk, and stuff strewn on my dining table, I do not hoard other things, and regularly take my stashes of recyclables to the recycling center...Which, I might add, I find quite cathartic... So, maybe that is hoarding therapy for me.

Recycling is Good Stewardship

I did not know that October 15 was Environmental Blog Roundup Day until I signed on the do this post.

This actually starts a couple of weeks ago, when I was in Target on a Sunday, doing some shopping... Those of you who know me will say "Target?" because I am a consummate Wal-Mart shopper, much to the chagrin of many of my family members. But, yes, I was at Target, mostly because the person for whom I was buying a gift is a consummate Target shopper. I can be flexible.

In the check out line, there where three women behind me. One somewhat older than myself, one in her middle aged era, and one probably in her twenties. The oldest of the three started talking about the fact that she did not believe the publicity about global warming, she did not think "we" were responsible for it, if it was happening, and she did not think automobiles contributed to it. The youngest of the three women in the group more or less agreed with her, and said something to the effect that why should we change our lifestyle if no one else is.

I did not say anything. I was thinking about my gas guzzling vehicle and my consumptive lifestyle, and felt there was little I could say to contribute meaningfully to their understanding of the fragility of our environment, and the ravages to which we subject it... I was thinking about "An Inconvenient Truth" and the list, at the end, of the very simple things each one of us can do to contribute to an improving environment. I was thinking about the fact that Bald Eagles were saved from extinction, and species like moose, white tailed deer, black bears and coyotes have increased their environment, learning to live with man. I was thinking about the fact that if they could adapt and adjust, why couldn't we? I was also thinking about the fact that so very many people who live on this Earth have access to so few resources, how could they be considered as contributing to a phenomenon like global warming? So, why should they be expected to change what they are doing to decrease their impact on global warming?

Needless to say, the words stayed with me, but I went on to doing other things in life and did not think much about those people, their doubts, and their absolute lack of concern.

Until today: I am getting ready to make a small trip, and that prompts me to clean out the garage: gather up the pile of recyclables and take them to the nearby recycling bins. As I was there, as often it happens, a couple of other folks came by. This is an interesting place and if someone were to want to do a social experiment, this might be an interesting place to interview people about their recycling habits and philosophies....

First to show up was a couple in a jeep type SUV. The back end was loaded with bags of recyclables. And, much as I used to do, they had to open each sack and wander up and down the rows of bins, putting the objects where they belonged. The gentleman was gregarious, and commented that they had waited too long. The women was just about getting things cleaned out of their vehicle.

The second couple who showed up was really the inspiration of my thinking: she was dressed nicely, including heels, which would catch in the broken pavement around the recycling bins (dumpsters, really.) He had what appeared to me to be a clerical collar, not a Catholic collar, but what I would describe as a "Christian collar." Their apparel, and the time of day, made me think that they had probably just left the Sunday religious services, and were making a stop at the recycling center before going home.

What this prompted in me were the thoughts that Recycling is Good Stewardship of the Earth... That recycling decreases the contents of landfills, and provides materials that can be made into or reused for products without having to acquire new resources from the Earth.

I am a big "History Channel" watcher, and have thoroughly enjoyed the shows that report on recycled products: glass, steel, rubber, other metals, paper, plastics. That is so fascinating to me. It makes me proud that I recycle, and angry that more people in Lubbock do not recycle. We used to have a "blue bag" program: recyclables could be bagged in blue plastic bags: they could be purchased, and some of the local stores used blue plastic bags. These blue bags could be placed on the dumpsters certain days, and they would be picked up. The "blue bag" days were posted on the dumpster: How much easier could recycling be: recyclables could be mixed, and put out like any other trash. But, the program was dropped due to lack of participation, and the cost was not justified by the cost savings realized by recycling... It is very sad that Lubbock is not more interested in Stewardship of the Earth.

I like, also, to hear about industries that are eco-friendly, recycle and in general try to be eco-responsible... Like the Subaru plant that advertises to be waste-free...

Anyway, I think recycling is one of the very Christian or spiritual things we all need to take more responsibility for... Good stewardship of the Earth is a spiritual responsibility to which we pay little attention.

Recycling comes in many forms. Running on TV right now is a series of commercials from Liberty Insurance: The commercial starts with a character who sees a good deed and then does a good deed. Each good deed is witnessed and the witness then performs a good deed, until the good deeds are recycled back to the initial character (presumably, a Liberty Insurance agent.) This philosophy of recycling good deeds is one my father taught us as we grew up... I have tried to perpetuate it through the years, sometimes more successfully than others, but with a thought to Christian values, good citizenship, and now, to recycling.