Reducing & reusing - Page 2

[RydersMama]

:
Love this thread!!!!

[jadekat]

I'm still new to recycling so these are some great ideas.

[iamloved22]

I try to buy used as much as possible. We've been buying used clothing for ages since when I was a kid my mom couldn't afford new. Now I go into even a cheap retail store and go "huh???" why on earth would I pay $30 for a shirt when I can get one just as nice for $3??
We try to recycle as much as possible and have certainly noticed our trash lessen a lot - my DH even took his lunch in a chico bag today and didn't complain (ok that is HUGE for him). It bugs me that our families are still so blatent about their refusal to even make any kind of an effort, for instance my grandmother buying the disposable toilet wands because they are "less dirty" I said HELLO your not eating off of them! Your cleaning the toilet! And my inlaws who have a wonderful curbside recycling program but still put everything in the trash and only see donating to a thrift store as a tax donation. Or (and this one burns me so badly we are writing them a letter as a homeschool project) when we drove past the back of a Goodwill store to watch them putting the unsold childrens books into the dumpster. So as far as we've come we've all got a long way to go, hopefully as each individual takes more babysteps toward a greener cleaner earth more people and companies will catch on.
FYI I find myself watching programs like "How it's made" and wondering what that particular company does with it's excess and hoping they re-use it.

[Narn]

Originally Posted by Toolip

Sooo.... I decided to become a very diligent recycler. I have ALWAYS recycled, but I wanted to get organized and recycle every tiny piece of plastic, glass and metal. I did this for a while until I read an article that talked about people like me, who thought that they were doing the right thing. It said that when you are in doubt, throw it out. If you recycle something that is not labeled as "recyclable" you could be contaminating the whole batch of recycling, rendering it all "trash."

I found a recycling center near my town that sorts everything by hand. They just ask for a small donation at the gate. This is run by folks who live to help others be greener. They will even try to figure out how to recycle something without a label. Try searching the web for one near you! I don't trust curbside recycling.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by Narn

I found a recycling center near my town that sorts everything by hand. They just ask for a small donation at the gate. This is run by folks who live to help others be greener. They will even try to figure out how to recycle something without a label. Try searching the web for one near you! I don't trust curbside recycling.

That sounds AMAZING!! Unfortunately I live in a rural area and although people around here are very "green" minded (and have been for much longer than it has been popular) our recycling center is run by some very lame people It's very cool that a place like you described exists though! Maybe something that we can work towards around here

[gurumama]

I recently found a used TOOL store--they not only sell used tools, they *reclaim* old broken, or rusty, tools and make them usable again: http://blog.homestars.com/boston/200...haps-cash.html

Anyone else have something like this nearby? I know Brattleboro has the Reuse Store, but otherwise I haven't heard of much like this. I tend to <ducks in shame> throw out broken tools, but now I know I can send them over to be fixed or resold.