Feel Good Vs. The Fees

If you are like most people, you are busy balancing work, family and anything else that life may throw your way. There are days that you may wake up feeling inspired to take on a new project and others that you don’t have the inspiration to get out of bed. With so many demands on our time we often don’t have an extra minute in the day to educate ourselves on important yet easily overlooked topics such as recycling.

We all know that recycling is an important process in keeping our Earth sustainable for generations to come. We like the “feel good” that comes with knowing that we are helping to turn our waste into a recyclable good. But do we really know that just by putting that newspaper or aluminum can into the curbside bin means that we are contributing in a valuable way? The answer is yes (if you are doing it right!)

Long gone are the days where each material had to be separated from the other in order to be processed. Now most cities have implemented what is known as “single-stream” recycling, meaning that all recyclable goods can be placed into the same container and carted off to be sorted at a facility. Here is where reality sets in; if you failed to rinse out that sour cream container before excitedly placing it into the recycling bin it is most likely going to end up at the dump. Just because it is placed in the bin does not guarantee that it is a useable resource.

Another common myth about recycling is that your recyclables are actually worth something! I love to receive phone calls from business owners who want to know what I am willing to pay for their break room recyclables. With recycling centers popping up all over towns, there is a misconception that you should be getting paid for what you are bringing to the table so to speak. The reality is that recyclable goods are worth very little to nothing at all for the person who is delivering the goods to the facility. And with delivering the goods to the facility comes workers to pay, gas to put in trucks, insurance, business licenses, the cost of bags and containers, truck maintenance and well you get my point.

The question you must ask yourself is…is the feeling that you are doing something good for us and future generations worth rinsing that container out or paying that nominal fee for the goods to go to the recycling plant instead of the landfill?  Or is your time and wallet too pinched to do it? It is a personal decision for everyone to make but the good news is that more and more Americans are making the decision to participate in recycling and becoming “all in” in the process. So the next time you see your neighbor fishing out that aluminum can from the trash at their summer BBQ, roll up your sleeves and offer to help! Or better yet, offer to make a sign for the trash can that reads “we recycle!”