What Got You Interested In Recycling?

[tater03]

So what got you interested in recycling? I honestly got interested in it more when my son had a report to do on the environment and recycling. He wanted to try to do some stuff to help out so that is how we got more interested in it as a family.

[jazzgrrl]

Well, I think it was people around me started talking about it and I took a class in college that centered around environmental issues and it made me realize that I could make a difference plus I saw how much we as Americans waste every year. I also for whatever reason associated recycling with being "hip" when I was younger and boy did I want to be hip.

[berlinlife06]

When I moved to New York, recycling is the law. So I adapted to the reality and did it. But got even more interested in environmental issues living in Germany. They have many programs, sources and practices thinking on the environment. But I guess that paying $8 a gallon of gas (in Germany) gets people into riding bikes and looking for alternative fuels.

[Roguegal]

Just be honest, the money. We started recycling years ago when they started paying so much per pound for aluminum cans. Then we started in with the newspapers. Now we given all the charity.

[Carl]

For me it just made good sense. When I was in those places that actually made it easier to recycle stuff, I was a happy camper. I have been to other places where it was plain inconvenient to do so.

[RFL1986]

I was raised always using the recycling so for me it was just the natural thing to continue doing. To this day it's almost just a force of habit to sort out the recycling and it seems like second-nature to many people my age (early 20s). I guess education works if it's carried out properly.

[mollyL]

If my granny was alive now, she'd been known as a tree-hugger and environmentalist. She taught me her ways because that was how she'd done things on the farm, not wasting anything if you could help it, and knowing how to make something last more than once. She was my best recycling teacher.

[jazzgrrl]

Originally Posted by RFL1986

I was raised always using the recycling so for me it was just the natural thing to continue doing. To this day it's almost just a force of habit to sort out the recycling and it seems like second-nature to many people my age (early 20s). I guess education works if it's carried out properly.

We should all learn from this. If we can teach our children to recycle from birth on, they will just think of it is normal/expected for the rest of their life.

[justontime]

I have never felt very comfortable about throwing away things that could be reused. The thing that provoked the biggest change was when we got new bins for our non recyclable waste, they now only empty the bin every fortnight and they will not take any extra. It made me more careful. I also have to go to the recycling centre more than before because occasionally I have too much non recyclable waste and I have to take the extra to the centre myself. I was surprised how many things they can recycle there, so that has enabled me to recycle more.

[SageMother]

I think my interest began with being broke and needing clothing for myself and my sons. Second hand shops recycle housewares and clothing, which is an area most people forget about when they discuss recycling.

With crafts, parts of worn out lamps or old, chipped dishes and such are great materials for personal art. Old blue jeans are great for hand sewn, reusable grocery bags. Old newspaper can be used as wrapping paper, either as is or decorated for interest.

If you look around in daily life, recycling needn't be separating your plastics from your glass at the curb!