How to start recycling and become green?

July 12, 2006 9:40 AM

I'm working on becoming a better person in all aspects of life. One area that I severely lack in is being friendly to the environment. I would like to start off small and began recycling everyday household trash. But how do I begin? Is there a straight forward newbie guide to recycling? What other small steps can I take that would have a big impact on the environment?
posted by bleucube to home & garden (30 comments total)

Don't you just take the stuff and put it in the box/bin? I guess the first step is to find out if you have such a scheme in your area.
posted by reklaw at 9:41 AM on July 12, 2006

Check with your municipality to see what recycling programs are in your area. They usually take some types of plastics and not others (look for the number in the recycling symbol on the bottom of the container.) More info here.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:50 AM on July 12, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Very little things I've done that aren't particularly inconvenient:

Take shorter showers. Flush less (if it's yellow, let it mellow). Turn the tap off when you're brushing your teeth. We're headed for a water crises as fresh water supplies disapear and more people are being forced to pay for their drinking water.

Take canvas bags to the grocery store (and skip the paper or plastic).

Turn off the lights when you leave the room. (Take a look at the devistation coal mining causes and you'll be convinced to leave the ligths off now more.)

Leave your car at home if you're going somewhere in walking distance.



Slightly more difficult but still managable:

Hang out your laundry instead of using the dryer - at least when you're not in a rush or during summer months.

Try to eat local food. Tomatoes grown in Mexico for example require that much extra oil for shipping, extra pesticide application to travel into the US, and additional power for refridgeration over a long distance.


You might look for a second hand copy of that 90s favorite "50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth". It's full of these little hints and you could probably score a copy for about 2 bucks.
posted by serazin at 9:55 AM on July 12, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

You might try Google maps to search for "recycling center near -your address-" and then give the center a visit to see what materials they take.

I keep multiple bins near my garbage bin for each different materials. I line one with a (recycled) plastic bag for plastics, another for tin/aluminum/glass (which I separate once I get to the recycling center), and I line another bin with a used paper grocery bag to store paper recyclables.

Another way to be easy on the environment would be to buy local items, especially food, whenever possible. Shop farmer's markets and health food coops for organic produce and cut down or eliminate consumption of meat, which is very resource-heavy to produce.

Use cloth napkins and rags instead of paper towels, buy recycled products whenever possible, compost vegetable matter to feed a backyard garden, buy food from the bulk department of your grocery store and use your own container. Think about the items that you're throwing away on a regular basis and then try to find means to reuse them or quit using them entirely.
posted by mezzanayne at 10:02 AM on July 12, 2006

The best ways to break it down are:

1. recycle
2. reuse
3. don't waste
4. give back

1. Separate your trash. That's the best way to start. Things that can be recycled easily:
paper
plastics
glass
metal containers

From there you might consider a compost pile if your living conditions merit. This means that you set aside a lidded container to hold your vegetable/fruit scraps that you take out to your pile every few days. Mix in some leaves and grass clippings and turn the pile over once in a while. If you don't have that type of setup, you might try vermicomposting, which can be done indoors.

2. Instead of spending the energy for recycling, reuse things . Use spaghetti sauce jars for holding homemade salad dressing, left over soups or chili, etc. Keep cardboard boxes for shipping things. Hold onto packing peanuts to send them to someone else. Reuse wrapping paper.

3. Don't run the tap when you brush your teeth. Wash your dishes by hand. Turn lights/computers/etc out when not needed. Walk or bike instead of driving.

4. Support organizations or companies that promote green products. Plant trees. Grow a garden.
posted by plinth at 10:03 AM on July 12, 2006

all good suggestions. For us, we've put a lot of effort into composting (both in our backyard and also making the most of the city-wide compost programme); also into getting rid of as many toxic household items, especially cleansers, as possible.

Find the local green-friendly store and get to know it well. You will likely meet lots of great and knowledgable people who can help you on your journey.
posted by iTristan at 10:06 AM on July 12, 2006

Is there a straight forward newbie guide to recycling?

Clicking through the links on the site I pointed to above led me to The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:07 AM on July 12, 2006

Put on an extra sweater instead of turning the heat up.

Al Gore's Guide

Good for you btw!
posted by radioamy at 10:13 AM on July 12, 2006

The single best thing you can do is stop eating processed foods. The packaging and manufacturing of them is enormously wasteful, along with (mentioned above) the shipment.

(Note, I personally haven't been able to eliminate them 100% I love Kashi nuggets. And tasty little crackers.)
posted by miss tea at 10:13 AM on July 12, 2006

The Guardian runs a regular column on ethical living which may be of interest.

Something else to consider is buying green electricity, ie paying extra to get electricity from renewable sources - best to get some local consumer guidance on this however, as some schemes are much better than others. Electricity in Michigan comes largely from coal (65%) with nuclear (18%) and gas (12%) which is quite a damaging mix. You have a number of choices for green tariff programmes.
posted by biffa at 10:15 AM on July 12, 2006

iTristan forgot the first and most effective strategy on the list: Reduce.
Don't accept unnecessary packaging in the first place.
"You don't need to wrap that for me, thanks."
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:17 AM on July 12, 2006

I'd put a 'rethink' before 'reuse' and 'recycle'. Can you do something differently that avoids having something to reuse and recycle altogether?

Wash your dishes by hand.

Every study I've heard of is that dishwashers use less water than manual dish washing. This one's not a clear environmental advantage.

The biggest thing not touched on so far: eat lower on the food chain.

Good on ya for your efforts, bleucube. You will doubtless get a bazillion different specific bits of advice in this thread. Don't drive yourself nuts trying to worry about all of them at once. Pick a couple of things, get comfortable with them, then see what you might want to do differently. In all realms, trying to change everything at once is a good recipe for giving up in disgust.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:22 AM on July 12, 2006

When you're getting rid of random stuff that might be of any value to someone (eg. empty jars, an old table, etc), check out Freecycle.
posted by inigo2 at 10:24 AM on July 12, 2006

I myself try to focus more on the reduce and reuse sections of the famous 90s mantra, as others have mentioned. Recycling takes energy and uses resources, too. If you don't use something in the first place, you don't even have to recycle it.

You can also save money by doing little things like driving less and switching lights/AC/etc off when you leave a room. Bonus!
posted by lampoil at 10:28 AM on July 12, 2006

I would also suggest compact fluorescent lamps. They are more expensive, but use the fraction of the electricity of incandescent lamps, and are thus cheaper in the long run. Otherwise the suggestions above are good ones.
posted by fantastic at 10:28 AM on July 12, 2006

*Try to eat local food. Tomatoes grown in Mexico for example require that much extra oil for shipping, extra pesticide application to travel into the US, and additional power for refridgeration over a long distance.*

This is something that only came to my attention of late, but is tremendously important. Localized food is much more sustainable, so check out spots like LocalHarvest to find your nearest farmer's market.

I don't want to reiterate what's been said, but I also think reducing packaging (particularly by keeping canvas bags or reusing your grocery bags -- the plastic ones make great trashcan liners, the paper ones can hold your recycling, or you can take them back to the store and reuse them) is a very good place to start, minimizing water use, and the like.

You can also check out a place like SustainLane.com (my employer) for tips.
posted by andifsohow at 10:37 AM on July 12, 2006

A shower shut off valve (you can get these at Home Depot, etc.) is very convenient for saving water. You don't have to rush through the shower or manually readjust the water temp when you turn it off and on. Use it when you need it!

Buy used. You can get practically anything used or secondhand. A lot of times it makes little difference, and it's way cheaper too!
posted by FuzzyVerde at 10:44 AM on July 12, 2006

Check with your local school district. Often, they have big recycling dumpsters outside a school for newspapers, magazines, office paper and mail, and encourage anyone in the community to make use of them. Our school district also participates in some kind of program where the school gets credit for how much recycled paper they collect, and then can purchase playground equipment with their credits.

But even better is to cancel any newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Reduce the amount of junk mail you get by getting yourself taken off mailing lists. (Contact the Direct Marketing Association to do this.)
posted by SuperSquirrel at 10:46 AM on July 12, 2006

Spend less money.

Everything that you buy requires raw materials to be extracted, transported, and processed; it then needs to be manufactured, packaged, and transported to you.
posted by russilwvong at 10:50 AM on July 12, 2006

1. Reduce
2. Reuse
3. Recycle

1. Buy less stuff. Plan purchases carefully, so you buy good quality that will last. Take care of your stuff so it lasts longer. Like to canoe and kayak? See if you can find a friend with a canoe to share, and you can share your kayak. You don't need to own everything. Use the Public Library for books and music. Keep your car in good shape and keep it as long as you can.

Think about the environmental burden of your purchases - and budget for the environment as well as your cash. Electronics batteries are very toxic; try to minimize their use. Minimize household battery use by using an AC adapter for your cd player when possible. Household, i.e., alkaline, duracell-type batteries can be safely thrown in the trash.

2. Reuse. You can buy great clothes at Goodwill or Salvation Army, but you may need to shop often to find them. Take usable stuff to them, too, to keep it out of the waste stream. Save good packing boxes for the next move. Margarine containers are great for food storage. You can buy cheap flatware to keep at work for lunch. Cloth napkins are much more pleasant to use than paper, take negligible space in the washer, and take 15 seconds to fold.

3. Recycle. Most communities recycle paper. Glass is pretty easy to recycle. Plastic recycling varies by community. If your office does not recycle, start a program. Make sure lights and office computers are shut off at night You can make a small impact at home; you might be able to make a big impact by changing standards at work.

Most things you do to reduce your environmental impact will be good for your budget, like the compact flourescent bulbs mentioned above. There are plenty of vendors who want to sell you special recycling bins, composters, etc. For the most part, you don't need to buy stuff to start recycling. Great question, thanks for posting it.
posted by theora55 at 11:00 AM on July 12, 2006

Small steps to learn might be to simply educate yourself on new issues on being green, such a reading news and information on it so you have a better idea what your impacts are on this planet. Consider browsing website like http://www.treehugger.com/
posted by jldindc at 11:08 AM on July 12, 2006

The biggest thing not touched on so far: eat lower on the food chain

This is huge. I remember reading that going vegetarian was the second best thing you could do for the environment (the best was not owning a car).

Also, I hope this isn't too much of a non-answer, but if you really want to help the environment you need to support organizations that are advocating legislation to make the financial costs of doing business reflect the environmental costs, mandatory recycling etc; most people are always going to act in their own short-term self interest.
posted by teleskiving at 11:10 AM on July 12, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I second the bike riding /walk idea and add use mass transit. I haven't driven my car in over a month and a half, relying completely on my bike. Once you get into the groove of doing it, it is remarkably easy as well as an incredible money saver. I'm getting close to ditching the car altogether. Try it. Excuses are no justification for not trying it. Good luck and thank's for thinking green! :)
posted by Evan Gaffney at 11:31 AM on July 12, 2006

You can contact Ingham Recycling and Compost people [pdf] to find out what's available in Holt (they seem to be mainly in Lansing, but should know what's going on where you live as well). There's also some Michigan wide information.
posted by Margalo Epps at 11:42 AM on July 12, 2006

Every study I've heard of is that dishwashers use less water than manual dish washing.

Ooh! One thing you may not have noticed is most dishwashers have what a friend of mine calls the "Jimmy Carter button", which in my mind should produce a robot Jimmy Carter, but what it actually does is probably more useful to this question: it turns off the heated dry, which should save you some energy. (They were mandated on new dishwashers during the Carter era, I guess).
posted by dagnyscott at 11:47 AM on July 12, 2006

Drive less. Not only walking or riding your bike when possible (which is great) but also make choices to reduce your need to go long distances. Like go to the grocery store/school/workplace close to home rather than the one in the next burb over. Reduce car idling. 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting your engine. When waiting in a drive-thru or picking someone up, turn off the ignition.

In the spirit of buying locally: grown your own food. Replace some of your lawn with garden and grow vegetables without pesticides. If you don't have space for this (condo/apartment dwellers) investigate community gardens in your area. It's a great way to to build connections with other people in your community, too.
posted by raedyn at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2006

Recycling is well covered by the previous posters, so here are a few general ideas. Use a microwave to cook with for applicable foods, makes crappy toast but will steam veg very efficiently. Prepare your own meals, cooking can be a wonderful pleasure. Don't boil a pint when all you need is a cup. Take a non-powered shower, and turn it off while soaping up. All four save energy and water, with the added bonus that preparing a meal can be meditative whilst waiting for a pint to boil, often is not.
posted by econous at 12:50 PM on July 12, 2006

If you can hang a clothes-drying line, do so. I was amazed when we cut our electricity bill by 55% just by avoiding the dryer.
posted by jmgorman at 12:54 PM on July 12, 2006

Make sure you focus your efforts where it counts the most, and not the minor details.

The most effective personal eco-actions
How to streamline your life and still enjoy the heck out of it
posted by Sharcho at 1:56 PM on July 12, 2006

Appreciate everyone's input. Great simple advice to help me improve my relationship with the environment! Looking forward to sitting down and making a list from the answers within, crossing them off a long the way!
posted by bleucube at 1:56 PM on July 12, 2006