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Post by tangledblue on Mar 22, 2010 18:44:04 GMT -5
I have "issues" about not throwing things away correctly. Empty boxes, cans, and bottles will just sit around waiting for me to take them out to the recycling bin. (Well, it is never that simple, because containers must be properly cleaned so that they do not contaminate the recycling stream.)
I recognize that I am probably holding myself to a higher standard than I would hold someone else to or which is probably even reasonable. But how can I "let go" of that? Whether it is justified or not, improper disposal causes me anxiety, and more often than not it's just easier to not dispose than to deal with the doubt of whether I am doing it right or not.
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Mar 22, 2010 18:56:20 GMT -5
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Post by DJ on Mar 22, 2010 19:35:25 GMT -5
please forgive the terribleness of what follows but... if you keep all of that stuff piled up in your home... eventually you will die and someone else will shovel it out and into a landfill and they will -not- carefully separate and wash the recyclables... give yourself amnesty. give yourself the gift of a blank slate.. realise it is a priority and of importance to you to recycle in the future so give yourself an environment that it's a realistic possibility to do so in. even if you only give yourself amnesty in the kitchen so that you can set up your own mini recycling area and have space to clean and sort recyclables... it sucks but sometimes you have to do things in a not ideal way to enable yourself to do them the more ideal way in the long run in a sustainable manner.....the first recycling facilities couldn't use recyclable materials in their construction because the facilities had to be built so that it would be a possibility  |
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Post by tangledblue on Mar 22, 2010 20:42:00 GMT -5
You know, it's funny, but it gives me whole new perspective to realize that even though I am the only person I know in-real-life with this particular issue... I'm not really all that special of a snowflake  . I say "recycling stresses me out," and community responds "amnesty, aisle 12-B!" I like it! |
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escape
New Member
Joined: August 2008
Posts: 89 
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Post by escape on Mar 22, 2010 22:05:19 GMT -5
You'll just have to find some other ways of being a special snowflake. Welcome, fellow traveler! -escape |
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Post by Chris on Mar 23, 2010 8:41:16 GMT -5
I find that if I make recycling extremely easy --- by having a small bin in the kitchen to toss stuff into ---- and 4 bins on the exterior porch to sort it into then I do just fine. It does require me to rinse the cans and bottles but it's real simple and I just toss each item into my small bin then empty/sort that every few days.
I find it easier than when I threw things away in the trash and had to put a new trash liner every other day because of so much stuff going in there.
Good Luck!
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Post by 60isolderthanithot on Mar 23, 2010 9:37:33 GMT -5
I was overrun with recyclables for years. One day, I realized that I'd been carrying a couple of giant trash bags full of Big R for weeks. It was beginning to reek. I didn't want to throw them away because they were worth a good $9-10. I kept passing the recycler's at all the wrong times, it was never a good time to turn them in.
One day, I realized I'd just spent $21 on chicken one block away from the recycler's place. Then I went straight home.
The question became: Would I allow someone to throw those garbage bags into my car for weeks if they paid me $10? NOOOOOO. I gave them to the next homeless guy pushing a shopping cart. He needed those bags to eat. I needed them to avoid losing half the money I'd just spent on takeout chicken. It wasn't even close.
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Post by puppybox on Mar 23, 2010 11:40:16 GMT -5
It helped me to put a big garbage can just for recylables in the kitchen, so I can rinse and toss right away. I think the fact you have to GO OUT somewhere makes it a big thing for you and easy to put off. it would for me, for sure. whenI had a small recycling box that had to be emtied 3 times a week into the big container I never did it. and if you ahve time to put it off you have time to analyse howyou could be doing it better, and while you are at it do 3 other things for recycling too...so end up doing nothing at all. (thats how I operate!)
I gave myself mostly amnesty from recyling non kitchen items for 2 years. this year I am trying to do bathroom and rest of home items too.
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Post by Rory on Mar 23, 2010 13:13:03 GMT -5
When my flat burned down 20 years ago I had large and fairly well organised stacks of stuff for recycling. It was all thrown out. What has worked for me is to gradually move into recycling. I started with glass, then added paper but I don't wash tins or plastic as if I try to I end up leaving the glass etc. This is the best I can do for the moment and one of the valuable things I've learned here is that the best I can do is good enough and better than what I do if I try to be perfect.
Rory
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Post by fluffernut - now Jannie on Mar 23, 2010 14:32:22 GMT -5
Yesterday I took all my empty sodapop deposit bottles to a Redemption Center. Sorted out $4.05 worth but there were about ten the machines wouldn't take. So I pitched them in a wastebasket next to the refund machine. Felt good. and i didn't take them home with me.
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Post by breakingfree on Mar 23, 2010 14:34:51 GMT -5
Oh rory, that last sentence you wrote is so very true for me. I have to constantly tell myself, "Something is better than nothing," and "Good enough is good enough!"
BF
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Post by gifted on Mar 23, 2010 14:55:49 GMT -5
Playing devil's advocate here:
Recycling isn't that great an option in the first place. Much better to just use less stuff in the first place!
I DO still get stuck on recycling the soda pop cans and bottles. I PAID a deposit that someone else is keeping. I guess maybe I should find out who gets to keep thast money. Is it the store, or does it get turned over to the government?
But mostly, I try to avoid buying these beverages anyway. Because I do not own a car, it is an effort to lug heavy liquids home.
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Post by fluffernut - now Jannie on Mar 24, 2010 12:20:19 GMT -5
i have six containers snuggled next to my garage. Three for garbage, one for recycling glass plastic and metetal, one for newspapers and cardboard, and the last for five cent deposit bottles. They get emptied out on a regular schedule or at least when they get full. doesn't stress me out. I love when the town trucks rumble thru the neighborhood removing our stuff.
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Post by eagle on Mar 24, 2010 18:22:41 GMT -5
One of the biggest blocks to getting things done is that STUPID saying, "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all." It causes paralysis and it really is silly.
I like that Fly Lady encourages people to do housework imperfectly, because it instills in us that it doesn't have to be done perfectly.
Anyway, recylcing perfectly is standard you don't have to meet. Getting the trash out of your house is all you need to do, and you can do that in as messy a way as you choose. Recycling can wait until your house is in better order. Right now, just get that crap out and don't give it a second thought.
One day, you can add a bin or a bag or a box to put the recycling into in your kitchen or some other convenient location in your house. I have one in the kitchen and in each office (mine and Hubby's), so we just toss recycle stuff into them as needed. They get emptied as needed.
As far as rinsing out things like cans and jars and bottles, yes that does need to be done. But if my sink is full of dirty dishes and sink pudding, that's the last thing I want to be doing. Rather than add to the already horrible mess in my sink, I would just toss the thing into the garbage and feel NO guilt.
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Post by ghettofabulous on Mar 25, 2010 12:20:56 GMT -5
I used to have a really big problem with recycling, cleaning, rinsing, drying, sorting. There were so many steps to do it "properly," I couldn't ever get it done.
What I do now is rinse the item at the time of use. If I open a can, while it's heating in the microwave, I rinse it out. I don't rinse water bottles. When I feed my dog, I rinse the can before I feed her. They don't always make it to the recycle bin at that moment, but at least they are ready to go.
I also had a heart to heart talk with myself about the issue. It went like this:
Dr. Self: Why don't you get rid of all this darn recycling??
Me: Because I have to rinse, clean, dry, sort all these items, and it's so much work!
Dr. Self: You show great care to these plastic bottles. Do you think if a plastic bottle was you, and you were a piece of post consumer waste, it would take the time to rinse, clean dry and sort you to perfection?
Me: I don't know. I would hope so.
Dr. Self: Interesting. Do you think you are equal in value to a empty plastic water bottle?
Me: Yes.
Dr. Self: Now we're getting somewhere! Do you think you might even be BETTER than an empty plastic water bottle?
Me: Yes, I think I have more to offer the world than an empty plastic water bottle.
Dr. Self: Do you show yourself the same care as you do to a plastic water bottle? Have you cleaned, dried, rinsed and sorted yourself today?
Me: No.
That was my a-ha moment. I decided to put the focus into my own sustainability, to "recycle" myself for another day on the planet, to put myself into use for something greater.
When I learned to embrace myself as the greatest recyclable, I was able to disengage from the bottles, cans, paper and plastic.
GhettoFabulous
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