Small steps mean big change.

Recycling are you surprised? Are you even more surprised that I actually took a picture of our recycling AKA garbage and have posted it above? Yeah, me too. I know, I usually post about my daughter, adoption, changes in our life etc. Lately, though you might say I've had a bug in my bonnet. I've become more and more irritated when I notice people don't recycle. (Not to the point of confronting them mind you. Just taking mental notes.) Especially when I see how much we recycle each week. It's amazing how much we recycle. On the flip side, it's scary how much we would be putting into landfills if we weren't. Can you tell we take pride in recycling or what?! It's almost like a competition in our household. Hmmm, maybe we should create His and Her bins so we know who recycles more. Sounds fun right? Ok, maybe I need to get out more but any challenge in our house/marriage becomes a big game. Anyone who has played cards, scrabble, boggle, cranium etc. with us knows it'll be a battle between us to see who's the winner. EVEN IF WE'RE ON THE SAME TEAM. Why should recycling be any different? In fact, on a bigger scale it might be a fun way to get our country more involved. Let's make it a competition between states and countries for that matter. Who is the best? We could even have our own cheers. OK OK, NOW I'VE GONE TOO FAR. Seriously, why does everything have to be so serious when it comes to saving our planet? Why can't we make things like this into fun challenges? Which state uses the least amount of fuel? Which state cut down the most on their gas and/or electricity usage from month to month? Our govt. could even give each citizen of the winning state a break on the utilities for the next month as a thank you. It could be a whole new way of encouraging our country to get involved. Isn't that what we're being taught to do as parents? Use positive reinforcement not punishment. Instead, we currently try to make changes through voting on multiple items that have nothing to do with one another. It's becomes too confusing in the end and we all lose out on one thing or another we want/need. IE. Education, health care, maintenance of our streets/highways etc. Another soap box for another day. Sorry. It's interesting how each state and even each country recycles so differently. When we lived in northern Italy they recycled everything and it all had a different day and container for it to be collected. White box= paper products Glass and plastics= were in a yellow bag if I recall correctly 2 small containers with lids= one for animal waste the other for kitchen clippings. Ie. coffee, eggs, fruit and vegetable waste. Basic trash was tossed into a large dumpster at any time. I'll admit, we tried to fight recycling in Italy at first thinking it was too difficult. We were lazy! Seriously though, it was difficult trying to understand what item to put out and on what day of the week/month. Life in a foreign country can be very intimidating at times. Even when it comes to putting out the trash! In time, we got it and it became like second nature. I am thankful the Italians showed us how it could be done and how beneficial it can be. Another thing Italians do is charge you for each plastic bag you use at the store. (I hear this is also being done in cities like San Francisco.) This encourages people to use cloth or reusable bags brought from home. Reduces the amount of plastic in landfills. Reduces the harm to animals who may try to eat it or get stuck in it . In the end it saves us and our environment as a whole. In Las Vegas we had curbside recycling which was limited to paper, plastic, aluminum and glass. They have containers for each but we were told to put it all together and they would separate it at the center. Our containers were always overflowing on recycling day and our regular trash only had a bag or two. We were amazed at how much we are able to save. Now, we're in CA where you recycle as much as possible. Yard waste, plastics, glass, newspaper, aluminum, you name it. As an added bonus we are again recycling our fruit and vegetable waste through composting. It's so easy to do and makes such a huge difference. I don't know why it's such a difficult thing for our country to get on board with when you can see what a difference it makes. So many new things can be made from it. New shingles, new boards for fences and patios. The list goes on and on. I want to thank Debateur for stopping by and commenting on my blog today. Her topic/debate of the day on recycling was just what I needed to give me the courage to say what I have wanted to for some time now. Thanks for listening to my thoughts. I look forward to hearing yours and I challenge you all to start or to continue recycling in your homes. Heck, make a competition or game out of it. What family wouldn't have fun with that one? Guys vs. girls/parents vs. kids...you get the picture. No cheating either! I can just see my hubby taking stuff from my bins and tossing them into his own. He's a slick one that way. Gotta watch him all the time.

P.S. Not long ago I did a post called Imperfectly Beautiful . I find it ironic that I wasn't willing to put pictures of my messy laundry room or dirty dishes on the internet but today have posted not 1 but 2 pictures of my trash. I think I've gone and done it. I've either gone completely mad or thrown all caution to the wind. Can't wait to hear your thoughts.