What is your favorite way to recycle?

Question

I grew up in the "use it up, make it do" generation so recycling is nothing new to me. Most everything that comes into my house is recycled in some way or another. Most containers go to the recycling center, newspapers and junk mail into the garden, kitchen scraps into the compost, etc. I make quilts out of some old clothing, others go to charity. I buy very little stuff new, drive a preowned car, recycle computer inks, styrofoam, whatever I can. How do you recycle and what is your favorite tip, and what would you like to see in the way of recycling for the future?

Answer 1

Paper bags, and in future water must be recycle, because of global warming, pollution and huge population growth.

Answer 2

1.  I avoid those stupid little use a few times then buy another junk.  Example:  Swiffer, etc.  Whatever happen to a regular mop?  Now I have to buy a bottle of some sort of liquid every month to use a stupid swiffer thing that doesn't even mop very well.  Not to mention the friggin' grocery store I'm trippin' over swiffers, and plug in stands in the middle of the isle.  A bunch of garbage.  You can't even dust with a duster you have to use these swiffer dust things that you have to replace.  I avoid that garbage.

2.  I donate all my clothes that I don't wear.  They get name brand clothes sometimes with tags still on them from me.

3.  Our townhouse community recycles so every Tuesday we put out our recycling junk.

I do believe there needs to be a oil pickup setup however.  I still dump my cooking oil in the sink.  I'm probably a bad guy for that.  But what a pain.

Answer 3

TAKING A SHOWER WITH MY BOYFRIEND SURE DOES SAVE ALOT OF WATER LOL!

Answer 4

Wow! that's pretty extreme.  That's good to hear that people are taking recycling to such a serious extent; it seems to be a big issue.

I personally like to bathe once every other-other day.  In certain states they seem to be having a real issue with water; I don't want it to affect my state (since we use the colorado river)

Answer 5

Our council provides each household with 3   270ltr otto bins)charged for in your property rates) 1 for rubbish, 1 for recycle material and 1 for compostable materials

This system which has been operating 3 years has reduced material going to landfill by alt least 70-80%

There is several thousand tonnes of compost that is now available for sale

Also crushed glass is now being combined in roading material

This system costs property owner approx NZ$300 pa

Even for people who dont care you have to sort your rubbish

Put the wrong stuff in a bin and you can be fined

http://www.timaru.govt.nz/

Have a look at the above site, woops got it wrong is only 67% diverted from landfill

Answer 6

I like to make a trellis out of wire coat hangers I get from the dry cleaners.  To do it, overlap the corners of two and insert the hook end of a third one in the overlap.    And so on, and so on.  It makes a nice diamond pattern and the top row is all hooks so its easy to attach to a fence.  You can make it as long or as narrow as you want.

Answer 7

There are a couple of things I do so that recycling is easier and more convenient.  One is to have an old box, just a big bigger than the newspaper, with strings cut and draped over the edges.  When the box is full, it's easy to bundle the papers, and each stack is just right - not too heavy, and not too small.  I usually handle a week's worth like this.

Almost EVERY package for things I buy can be saved and used again - shoe boxes are just right for most presents that are mailed or shipped, for example.  Until recently, I helped keep a scarpbook for my mother to use in place of the memory she has now lost, and many things from aspirin boxes to other packaging materials came in handy while setting up new pages for her.

Most glass, tin and aluminum waste is just rinsed, and put into separate containers in the utility room.  When one is full again it's just full enogh - not too big to lug around.

Old clothing becomes NEW rags for shoe polishing, working on the car, or whatever else is needful.  Of course, eventually they even get too ratty.  I'd give them to a rag collection place but there aren't any where I live (rags at one time were used for all sorts of things, including making quality paper).

I don't change the car oil myself anymore, but used to take that for recycling, and now all the commercial places are required to recycle it.

I do wish there was still an effort being made to recycle old tires.  While a few companies still make road-paving paving material from ground-up old tires, it has not been adopted widely enough.  And this is an efficient means of using them.

There has been too little progress in the means of breaking down plastics, tires, and other related items into fully re-usable components.  Oil is too valuable to burn, and it won't be long before it is too expensive to waste on disposable bottles, either.  I think this is going to be one of the most important areas of recycling technology in the fairly near future.

Answer 8

to repurpose as many items as possible. For instance, instead of throwing out an old blanket, I might use it to make a pet bed.  Or buying used furniture and painting it or fixing it up.  Thrift shops are great!

Answer 9

my favorite tip is save pop cans an you can sell them to aluminum companies for 5 cents a can if you are a big pop drinker it comes in handy and i love selling my old kids clothes to pluto's closet and clothes i don't care for to clothes mentor

Answer 10

not buying products that need recycling. I buy very little and consume very little. I am a retailers nightmare. a minimalist

I only but what i really need and then I still might not buy it.

if I don't need a bag. I wont take one.

I bought a bottle of water and just fill the bottle with tap water.

I have used the same bottle your months now.

Answer 11

Table scraps are fed to the dog (along with his regular dog food) scraps unsuitable for dog food are fed to chickens.  Cornstalks and shucks are laid  aside and used for mulch in next years garden. I lay old pieces of carpet in the middle of rows to destroy weeds and hold ground watter. A fifty watt  light is left on night in the chicken house and the insects attracted to this light become chicken food themselves.This alone cuts down chicken food outlay and more eggs are produced  as well. Animal and bird waste is added to the compost pen. I nail sheets of cardboard salvaged from a furniture store over windows in my barn and chicken house. After deer season my wife makes venison sausage and jerky.Deer hides are donated to a  taxidermist whitch sharpens tools for us.