Going Green

Andrew and I joke that we have more recycling every week than we do trash, but it is true.  The recycling is picked up every other week, and it is pretty much always full to the brim when they come for it.  We stopped putting the trash out every week and switched to the same schedule as recycling and there is two and possibly a third bag in there, but it certainly isn't full

If you are wondering what on earth we have that we are recycling that much, let me tell you: yogurt containers (which we both have every morning), milk jugs, the cardboard wrapping that comes around toothpaste and medicine, papers which we seem to accumulate a ton of, shredded paper, the plastic boxes fruit comes in, laundry containers, coffee containers, coffee creamer containers, lunch meat containers, soap containers, shampoo containers... you get the idea.  We recycle a lot, and I love it.

We first started recycling when we live in the dorms because we would have yogurt containers and cereal boxes to recycle and the occasional newspaper and graded assignment.  Andrew works right across from the recycling plant, so he would take the recycle box with him and dump it.  That continues when we moved into the apartment.  We bought an extra thirteen gallon trash bin and threw the recycling in there.  It was great when we went to the new system so you don't have to sort the recycling.  I feel like that did a lot to get more people on board with recycling because it is easier now. 

I remember clear back to 5th grade when I think recylcing must have just been starting out as a program in town because they were going to schools teaching kids about recycling.  That has stuck with me, and I have always tried to recycle as much as possible. 

There are other ways we try to be green as well.  When we moved into the house, you may remember Andrew started a compost pile.  That is going stong, so food scraps go to the compost and not to the landfill.  We take reusable bags to the grocery sore (thank you free bags from college).  Since we do most of our shopping at Target, it also helps that they give you .05 cents off your bill with every bag you use.  Now, I would like to note that this generally means rather than spacing things out amongst all the bags, they like to make them unbelievably heavy, which was really great when we had 3 flights of stairs to climb with them back at the apartment. 

When we lived further away from work, I rode the bus in to work almost every single day.  I loved the bus, especially in the winter time.  I used to calculate the number of miles I saved on my car by riding the bus in a year.  I think last year, the full year I rode, I saved about 5,000 miles on my car and averaging gas at that time to be about $3.25/gallon I think I also saved around $500-700 on gas.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but it adds up.  That was $500 I got to spend on clothes and purses and shoes!

What ways do you go green?