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Can we talk about how many people confuse recycling with actually cutting waste?
I volunteer at the community drop-off center in Portland and it drives me nuts. Last Saturday a guy brought in 14 bags of stuff, all clean and sorted, but he said his family still throws out as much trash as ever. Recycling feels good but it doesn't shrink the pile, it just moves it. I see this all the time, people patting themselves on the back for a blue bin while their trash can stays overflowing. We ran the numbers at our monthly meeting and found that only about 9% of plastics actually get reused in our area. So why are we still acting like sorting is the same as solving? Does anyone else think we need to talk more about reducing at the source instead of just sorting better?
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taylorm8924d ago
The whole house switched to a "shop first, toss later" rule and it actually changed things. We stopped buying snacks in those little individual bags and started making big batches of popcorn or trail mix. Also started keeping a small bin in the kitchen for scraps we can compost or use for broth, so less actually goes in the trash. Its been about six months and our trash pickup is down to half a can a week, plus we have way less guilt about the recycling bin.
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