Why I Recycle

Why do I recycle? Hmm. Well…let’s see. It started when I watched the movie, Idiocracy. I was amazed at the piles and piles of trash all over. Then there was my trip to the dump. I was amazed at the piles and piles of trash all over. Then I watched the movie, Wall-E. You guessed it…I was amazed at the piles and piles of trash all over.

Those three incidents were forever blazed in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about those images. I started looking at my trash differently. It was no longer going somewhere to be magically whisked away. It was going somewhere to be buried and sit and sit and sit. I’m pretty sure most of my stuff wasn’t biodegradable.

I kept thinking about my trip to the dump. I went to the dump because I was moving and didn’t want to take that stuff with me. It was easier to throw it all in the back of a truck to take to the dump than to sort through it and give it to the Salvation Army.

So to the dump I went. Oh.my.gosh. At the dump all you do is stand in the back of the truck and toss your stuff out on the ground. There wasn’t a special place to put it, you just tossed and left, never to worry about it again. But I did worry about it. A lot. I kept thinking about it over and over. I kept thinking about how my selfishness and laziness just added to the problem.

After that trip, I was more aware of my surroundings. I started looking at what I was throwing away. I started looking into reusable bags. I started knitting market bags. I started looking into being more green. I started looking for a recycling center in my area. I started recycling. I started making a difference.

Photo credit:D’Arcy Norman

This post was cross-posted at the Green and Clean Mom Community.