If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a big time GREENIE and Environmental Activist who puts lots of time and energy into educating consumers on the need to contribute in a positive way to our planet. Every Monday and Thursday here in my neighborhood is trash pickup day and on Mondays the city picks up the recyclables. At least two miles of my daily 5 mile trek is spent walking or running through the neighborhood and I get to explore hundreds of different trash loads throughout the journey! Needless to say, I have learned a lot about people’s trash over the last three months since I have been observing and most of it has not been pretty! For the sake of this article I have broken down our trash disposers into three different categories and being the “black and white” person that I am, there is no grey in my world when it comes to trash. You are either helping the planet by what you use and how you dispose of it – or you are hurting it!
1. We have the Tree Hugger Disposers – I would have to put myself in this category but I will use my sister in law as the example since she lives on my street and I walked past her load today. Krystine is one of the most health conscious people that I know and her trash reflects it. Most items in her recyclable bin come from Whole Foods or other Green Manufacturers. But what I like most about her load is that in a house of just two people, she uses four recycle bins each and every week and EVERYTHING she can recycle ends up in there! I have to believe that most have no clue as to what actually can and can’t be recycled so here is a summary for those that live in my area of Boca Raton. http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/muni/pdf/sanit/SaniBroch10-11%203.pdf
2. Next we have the Tide Disposers – I use the term Tide to describe those that fall into the grey area of people who use Tide and the families of other products that don’t have bio-degradable containers and that are proven to be a detriment to our planet. No judgment here – just facts! Tree huggers have figured out that phosphates are destroying our oceans as are the many other chemicals we wash down the drains daily but Tide users have not yet been privy to that info therefore they don’t believe that their little disposing habits will contribute to the bigger cause. Also very important to know is that every time a plastic bottle is used, it never leaves the planet so it’s become even more important now to use concentrated whenever possible so that our oceans don’t continue to get polluted. At this current moment there are 5 places in the oceans that are the size of Texas ridden with recyclables that were not properly disposed. Check it out! http://www.theworld.org/2009/08/great-pacific-garbage-patch/ The Tide users are my inspiration behind starting the No Toxic Zone Movement! So – if you fall into this category, it’s ok because now you know better! There are much better, safer, less expensive ways to clean and dispose. Take the pledge and learn how!
3. Lastly we have the Lost Souls – The picture below describes it all. The lost souls never took the time to get their recycle bins from the city and therefore could care less what happens to their garbage once it leaves their home! To me this is a complete disgrace and an utter lack of respect to both our community and our planet. I find it next to impossible to convince these folks that they should consider new ideals because the idea of a better, safer planet doesn’t make for good conversation in the minds of this group!
Did you know that if every household in North America used concentrated natural products instead of mainstream grocery store brands, in 10 years we would save almost 7 billion pounds of plastic? If that plastic were turned into laundry baskets, it would circle the earth 71 times. So in closing, I hope my article impacted you a little today because I believe that the many that fall into category 2 would be willing to make a change if they knew it wouldn’t make a big disruption in their life. I am here to help and happy to answer any questions so feel free to respond with your thoughts!
