Why Recycling Changed My Life

I only recently restarted recycling plans after a few-year hiatus. When I lived in Alabama, I was an avid recycler of aluminum cans because I was a prolific drinker of Code Red Mountain Dew. The addiction may have transformed to diet soda, but it still remains and I still consume four or more cans per day of the liquid amazing.

Have you ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It’s a huge area – twice the size of Texas, in fact – filled with garbage. The world’s largest landfill. And it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which touches most continents on the Earth.

Ever thrown away a diaper? That’s where it goes. Aluminum cans? Yep. Paper and plastic and glass bottles, oh my? Absolutely. Everything gross you decide not to keep in your house ends up either in the ground or in the ocean, and chances are it lands here.

Considering how much garbage the average American family throws away in a day – usually around 1/2 to one full bag – that’s a lot of trash floating around in the world’s largest puddle.

So I started recycling. I got a conscience. Then I stopped, because I moved to a place that didn’t have any recycling program. I moved later and had a roommate who was really into it, but I stopped caring and didn’t begin again until recently, when I went outside.

You see, I had gone out for a cigarette break between classes, and I watched as a woman threw away three plastic bags (my school is beside a grocery store) and one hit a bird. I didn’t think that long about it until a few minutes later, when my business class went to watch a presentation by a woman who has been and is very dedicated to recycling – on the board of the commission in the county, nonetheless – about the act and the landfills around here, and what is and is not recyclable. She showed us her box from purchasing a Swiffer, which was stuffed with plastic and tape. It was a real wake-up call.

So today I went dumpster diving for the first time in my life. A neighbor had forgotten the dumpsters are ours and not just hers, and had stuffed it to the brim with cardboard boxes. This is a no-no for two reasons. First, it’s rude to take up the entire dumpster, especially when trash will not be collected for another few days. Second, that’s a lot of perfectly good cardboard on its way to be stuffed into the ground. So I grabbed a box cutter and went to work. I tore the boxes apart, flattened them, and stuck them into the bed of my stepfather’s truck to take to the recycling center when he goes shopping on Sunday. I did my good deed, and I feel like something has changed.

I was bored the last few days, which is why I started this blog. I now feel like I have something to do. I am going to change the world, and I want help. I assure you: once you begin recycling, you will feel different.

Do you recycle? How do you stay encouraged? Do you have any words for those who do not?

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