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Going Green!
- By Lily Eastman
- Published 06/14/2008
- Other Stuff
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Lily Eastman
Lily was born in the back of a station wagon to traveling circus performers. They left her at a rest stop in Polk County when her fear of tigers made her a nuisance. A nice family adopted and tried to make her feel welcome, but sometimes, late at night, when the bullfrogs called, she wondered if she might be different. Not really, she sleeps like a rock, so she never heard the bullfrogs. She now plots world domination. And takes naps.
View all articles by Lily Eastman
Does anyone else feel green guilt? That twinge when you throw away a recyclable bottle? The way you look over your shoulder when buying the twelve-pack of jumbo paper towels in the grocery store. I do. It started to eat away at me, and the heavy sense that I could be doing more...could be doing something, to help save the planet for our future.
So I decided. I'm going green. Since conservation begins in the home, my first step was to look at our household waste.
First of all, we didn't recycle. I called up our local waste collection agency, which also collects recycling, and requested a green bin. That sounds easy, right? Well, after a minor mix-up when our neighbors got a huge green garbage can on their lawn, and I snuck over there after dark to drag it back to our house so I wouldn't have to explain, we had it! We immediately began collecting our Coke cans and water bottles in the house.
You'd be amazed how much you can recycle. Cereal boxes, folded up. Plastic bags that rice comes in.
Toilet paper tubes...it piled up and piled up, til our bin was full. And it was only halfway through the one month between pickups. I noticed that the across-the-alley neighbors had about four recycling bins and I'd never seen them get moved to the curb. At sundown that day, I set out on my second recon mission.
Two bins secured! Go, Lily! We usually fill them both up by the end of the month, but instead of commandeering another bin, my roommate and I are going to try to drink less Coke and more water from reusable containers.
The main problem we encountered with recycling was the nastiness at the bottom of our indoor collection basket. Whenever we emptied a bottle, can, package, or whatever, we tossed it into this basket, then took it outside to drop into the main bin once a week or so. This plastic basket got increasingly nasty, with dribbled Coke, pink traces of vitamin-infused water, and other gross spots. Lacking an outdoor hose, we had to do our best to get it clean. Bleach works well, pour it in, swirl it around, then dump it out on the gravel driveway.
Next post: Wipeout! Getting rid of paper towels.
So I decided. I'm going green. Since conservation begins in the home, my first step was to look at our household waste.
First of all, we didn't recycle. I called up our local waste collection agency, which also collects recycling, and requested a green bin. That sounds easy, right? Well, after a minor mix-up when our neighbors got a huge green garbage can on their lawn, and I snuck over there after dark to drag it back to our house so I wouldn't have to explain, we had it! We immediately began collecting our Coke cans and water bottles in the house.
You'd be amazed how much you can recycle. Cereal boxes, folded up. Plastic bags that rice comes in.
Two bins secured! Go, Lily! We usually fill them both up by the end of the month, but instead of commandeering another bin, my roommate and I are going to try to drink less Coke and more water from reusable containers.
The main problem we encountered with recycling was the nastiness at the bottom of our indoor collection basket. Whenever we emptied a bottle, can, package, or whatever, we tossed it into this basket, then took it outside to drop into the main bin once a week or so. This plastic basket got increasingly nasty, with dribbled Coke, pink traces of vitamin-infused water, and other gross spots. Lacking an outdoor hose, we had to do our best to get it clean. Bleach works well, pour it in, swirl it around, then dump it out on the gravel driveway.
Next post: Wipeout! Getting rid of paper towels.