UPDATED SEPT. 30, 2019

A personal account of progressing through different stages of recycling in hopes to persuade others of the importance of reducing waste and cleaning up the world whenever the opportunity arises. 

What started out as a single activity that I took upon myself, collecting newspapers my job was throwing out, has over the course of a couple years turned into a major project and an important part of my life. It has become a daily habit to recycle almost anything I can. I consider myself a pro-recycler, in that I have an intricate system of recycling that I’ve set up in various aspects of my life.

Over the course of about two to three years, I have saved several thousands of pounds of recycling from ending up in places where it does not belong. It started off small, with just collecting newspapers, until I eventually expanded to other things; it started out simply, and conveniently. After I took an environmental science class in college, I felt the need to recycle grow stronger, more necessary. So, I have stepped up my game exponentially in a relatively short period of time.

I had learned about how aluminum is 100% recyclable, but the mining process for the ore needed to produce it is very costly and very detrimental to the surrounding environment. I learned about how the metals required for making all of our electronics is also difficult and expensive to mine, but also, for some metals, the deposits currently known are dwindling relatively quick; in a decade or so, the cost of electronics could increase drastically due to limited resources, or we may not be able to produce some devices unless an alternative metal is found to work with it. And don’t get me started on the plastic crisis.

From the knowledge I took in from that class and other research, I developed a heightened sense of awareness about waste and developed the slightly obsessive compulsion about minimizing it as much as possible. I saw an issue in full view and acted on it. And some issues, the majority of people just do not care or think about, let alone go out of their way or their comfort zone to address.

I decided that it wouldn’t be enough to have the knowledge or an opinion about the issue; if I was going to make any difference in the world, I would have to make an example of myself. You can’t tell people to not be wasteful, you have to show them how bad the amount of waste is. You have to be seen going out of your way to address the problem head-on. Sometimes, you have to get your hands a little dirty in full view of everyone in order for them to see your dedication to a cause, and maybe reflect on themselves about their own waste.

As I said, what started as a small, simple task turned into a long-term dedicated practice that has become part of who I am. I have no regrets, no qualms about the things that I do. I don’t care about the people who look at me weird or think I’m crazy or think I’ve taken on too much. I’ve come a long way on this adventure, and I’d like to share the story about how I got to this point with this self-assigned task, and why I am so dedicated to my cause.

It Started with Newspapers

I work at a large retail store, and every day our store receives a delivery of a stack of newspapers. Over the time of working there, I noticed that they would take the daily ad out of one newspaper, put the rest of that one newspaper in the break room, and then TOSS OUT the rest of them! When I learned this I was surprised.

I know newspapers don’t cost that much, but what was the point of spending money on an entire stack, just to essentially throw most of the money into the trash? And then there’s the fact that trees were cut down just for us to throw their byproduct in the garbage. I tried to say something to my store manager, but she didn’t care. And knowing that they would just be thrown in the trash bugged me to my core. I had to do something.

So I started taking them home. Every day I worked I would grab the newspapers. And once I’d collected a trunk full of them, I would bring them to the animal shelter. Having volunteered there, I knew that they needed newspapers for some of the animals, like the rabbits or reptiles. So, about once or twice a month I would show up to the shelter with bags and bags of newspapers to drop off.

Over time, people at work became accustomed to me doing this. On my days off, people would remember that I collect the newspapers, and would take care to not throw them out. It made me happy to see their effort to help me.

I focused on just the newspapers for about three years before I stepped up my game.

A Bit Here and There

When the problem with plastic waste was first starting to be really considered an issue, I began to be more mindful of my waste. I started separating recycling from my trash; the boxes or containers put aside, and the package wrappings thrown out. Even though I lived in a small apartment at that time, I set up a little area in my dining room with a couple of different boxes to separate everything.

Occasionally I would have to pull some recycling from the trash, as I was the one most concerned about it, and others would sometimes forget.

I began stepping it up a little at my work again. I would save my own finished water bottles and would take them from my coworkers if they were about to toss them. If no one was looking, I might even pull one out of the trash really quick. I started coming home with a shopping bag or two of cans and bottles I’d managed to find and collect throughout the day.

I would save them up until I had a decent amount and would take them down to the recycling center. Since my apartment complex didn’t have a recycling bin, I would drive across town to bring them where they needed to go. I usually did this about once a month, once I had enough to get a few dollars out of it, so it at least covered the gas it took to do go do it. And I usually planned it around something else I could go do in that area, like get gas specifically at Costco, or meet my sister for lunch out there since it was closer to her anyway.

I did this for about four months before I “evolved” to another level.