i do my part to not leave my foot prints on earth after in leave but there is much more that i can do here are some of the things i do old coffee cans become storage for wet and dry stuff they can also be put in the freezer material scrapps become stuffing for homemade toys and dog toys i shread my parper that will be bedding for muffie when she has her pups and my ddil has a guine pig it has become bedding for him boxes can and other items go to the recycle bin just acrss the street the food bank get grocery bags i also use them in the winter instead of buying plastic for the windows i cut them into strips and stuff in windows where i can feel a breeze comming out on clean up day i find a lot of old wood furniture that is being throwen i collect it up anrepair it or refinish or paint them give it to the casa shelter for when wemon get out and have nothing the list goes on and on old blankes get a new quilt cover for chaitery old towels become quilted decorations for table runners ect for chariety [casa] now what do you do

i also am an avid recycler, i recycle everything pretty much. i reuse, pass on, share, refurbish, the usual things that go to the recycle center does, paper, metal, plastic, glass. i send scraps to whom ever i can convince to take them (although i use lots myself after awhile they can get pretty overwhelming if i've really been quilting alot) i hook rugs, crochet fabric bags, applique, i use fabric (homemade from scraps of course) shopping bags, the kids have found some pretty creative uses for empty thread spools, paper towel tubes hold bindings, boxes get decoupaged with fabric to make unique treasure boxes, electronics and cell phones go to veteran organizations to benifit military families. , old towels are good 'stuffing' for potholders, the list does go on and on, the good news...we only have 1 bag of actual trash go out ever 1or 2 weeks...

I try to recycle as much as possible.

I used to make miniatures and you look at things in a different way after trying to decorate the rooms. For instance, and old film holder (35mm) with twine wrapped around both the base and the lid with a bead glued on top of the lid makes a laundry basket.

I kind of use the same concept with items around the house. I took an old small bookshelf, restained it and hung it on the wall for use as a mug holder. It has shelves for 4 mugs.

But nothing like you. Everyone should recycle more. I hate it when I hear someone say, "I can't be bothered!"

Congrats to you! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I feel like such a slacker. I recycle all the usual items. My area give us a huge bin for that and it is usually the fullest. They also give us one from lawn clippings then the one for regular trash. The family is good about sorting so things go in the right bin. I try to keep a smaller footprint by living more modestly. I avoid pre-packaged foods and bring my own bags when I shop.

We bag up our soda cans to give to the local homeless guy.
We separate our paper stuff and burn it in a barrel behind the shop.

But, my truck and my husband's 2 trucks, not enough recycling will erase the carbon footprint left behind.

I am a big recycler - have a bag at work for everyone's plastic items. My daughter's school has just recently become a "green" school. They recycle phones, batteries even the PTO recycles the Capri Sun juice pouches. Newspapers go into the church parking lot bins. We have curb pick-up of glass & metals. Michigan has returnable cans & bottles, so that helps too. Every little bit helps!

I recycle some. A couple of years ago, my recycled juicebag was featured in the Canadian Living Magazine's Go Green issue. I get my juicebags from a local elementary school.

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts...juice_bags.php

What a clever idea. :idea:
The tote is very nice! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I put my glass, plastic and metal containers in the apartment's recycling bin. Also newspaper and box cardboard.

I'm surprised what's recyclable. Even old medicine bottles and contact lens solution bottles are recyclable.

I use those reusable bags for some of my groceries, but I also take both paper and plastic bags because I reuse those as wastebasket liners and to bag up my recycling with.

I try to recycle as much as I can, too. I took cloth bags to grocery store years ago before it was considered the thing to do. Any plastic bag I get gets put in waste basket. I wash and reuse any type of ziploc bag. I figure if I've used it just once more (or how ever many) time I've at least doubled the bags intended life.
My DH old denim barn jeans get recycled into what I call back door rugs. I cut jeans into squares and use the rag quilt technique with 2 layers of denim. They are used constantly at home and get thrown into the washer with his jeans. Sometimes they are used as a cover on a tractor seat if it rains and the tractor's outside. They've been used to dry off a newborn baby calf as well. Usually make them about 36 x 30 inches.

You need to watch how you recycle. For example, if you leave the top on a bottle that is made up of a differnet material, the trash company here won't recyle, they toss it. Another example is if your jars aren't cleaned out, they'll also toss those. So check and see if your company has special rules for recycling.

Oh, yeah, for some reason those tops aren't normally recyclable. I use bottled (gallon jugs) water with a blue top. I noticed the tops had the little recycle triangles on them, so I started putting them in, and don't you know, the guys threw them all over the ground around the bin. My latest batch doesn't have the triangles, so I can only think they were put on by mistake.

All shredded paper and newspaper gets saved for mulch and weed barrier for gardening, all household food scraps (coffee grounds, veg and fruit trimmings (worms love it)) are composted in gardening. egg shells are placed around plants to keep slugs away. As they decompose, they composted into rose garden bed. I use the food item boxes for crafts, all material scraps go into a bag for stuffing animal bedding, dryer lint goes out for the nesting critters and birds.
The grandkids love the few laundry bottles ( I cut and they use as scoops to play outside with.) I also use the cut ones as gardening tools, stakes, etc. I use cut 2 liter bottles as mini greenhouses for starting plants, to protect them as they start out.
Store bags get reused as trash bags or donated to thrift store near here.We generally have less than one bag of actual trash a week.

No. We draw ants if we try to save stuff.

We save all our aluminum cans and take them to a local firehouse that uses the money for victims of fires. Our newspapers,plastic,cans, etc are all recycled. We have a compost pile BUT I , in the summer, I like to take all the green scraps, coffee grounds eggs shells etc. and put in blender with water, puree and just pour it on the garden instead....breaks down faster. I save scraps for a friend who makes beds for pet shelter. I make my own bread, so I wash plastic zip lock bags and reuse them again for bread.

This is a heated topic for me. I recycle everything I can. Pop tops from cans go to church as they donate them to help with (I think this is still the cause) paying for kidney dialysis. I separate paper from glass/plastic and put each out in their own brown paper grocery bag marked RECYCLE. I live in a multi family complex and can't really do much more as much as I'd like to. Letters to the association "to better inform homeowners to recycle" are ignored. When I walk in the warm weather I see 2 liter pop bottles and other things inside the plastic garbage bags that are put out by the curb for garbage pickup. I just want to scream "it's NOT garbage - you can recycle that stuff!!"

When I lived in Oregon I used to recycle. We dropped our garbage can down from a 40 gal to a 28 gal; then I moved to Arizona and they don't recycle anything. I did keep up recycling soda cans and water bottles; living only 20 mins from Cali I'd make a trip every three months or so to get paid per pound. I moved to SoCal a year ago and the only thing the debris company picks up is yard stuff. I still turn in the soda and water bottles 'cause they are worth a nickel each; we also do newspaper and cardboard at the local drop boxes. I use cloth shopping bags and what plastic grocery bags we do get go back to the market. The plastic and glass we don't pay deposits on get donated at the recycle stations.

My son does most of the recycling in our house. He does a great job too. Keeps me in line with what is garbage and what is recycling.

You won't if you wash the stuff out first.

In some communities, there is a law saying recycling is mandatory. Find out if that's true for your community, and then report the complex to them. That will get some action!

In some communities, there is a law saying recycling is mandatory. Find out if that's true for your community, and then report the complex to them. That will get some action![/quote]

I will look into this. Thanks for the info. I don't find it all that difficult to do; some people are just lazy.

we have recycline here so I recycle everything. Penny

We recycle here also but the garbage guys are the stupidest people I have ever seen!! I had a large plastic container that I put recyclables in along with the little bin that they give you.

I owned a graphics company at one time and I had the HUGE recycle emblem on the container so the garbage guys would know that it wasn't trash. One day I went to grab the garbage cans to bring them in and the idiots took my recycle can and tossed it into the recycled garbage truck!

Billy

Yes, I recycle (newspapers, cans, pop cans, etc.)