HOW TO: Start Recycling Now!
Recycling today is much broader than just placing recycling bins in your kitchen. Today, we’re sharing a few of our best tips on how to start recycling and going green in all areas of your life.
Learn what you can recycle. An obvious first step, but still important, is to learn what you can and can’t recycle. Here is a helpful recycling list to get you started. Some quick reminders on what NOT to recycle include: styrofoam and batteries, among others.
Start small. Instead of starting by recycling all of the possible products in your household, start with just paper or plastic. From there, you’ll get a routine in place and you can work on the best way to efficiently recycle without much extra stress.
Make it simple for yourself and your community. Often, it’s easy to think that recycling is too difficult or time consuming to actively participate. Instead, try creating a simple solution for recycling that will make it easy for you as well as your local community to participate. Our suggestion is to start a recycling area in your community and have a different person each week take the load of recyclables to the nearest recycling center. This process ensures that everyone can participate without one person having to take on all the responsibility.
Repurpose your items instead of throwing them away. Repurposing can take place in a few different ways – a common one is to reuse items you already own instead of throwing them out. For example, instead of throwing away your old t-shirts, use them to replace your paper towels or rags for when you wash your car. Another way to repurpose your items is to join a group like FreeCycle, where you can exchange stuff in your local community (for free!) instead of throwing it out.
Expand your recycling into other areas of your life. Home is the easiest place to start recycling, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy to spread to other areas of your life. Start first with the workplace, then consider greening your holiday celebrations and even your travel plans!
These are our top five hints to get started recycling, repurposing, and reusing in all different facets of your life. Are you already recycling in your home or workplace? Leave us a comment below and let us know what tips you would add to this list on best recycling practices.
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