Recycling Transitions

It’s been three or four garbage days now that I’ve been recycling in Colorado. When we moved in, I was sad we left our recycling bin in Illinois, and decided to go to Home Depot right away to get a new one. Assuming that recycling was the same nationally, I didn’t think this would be an issue.

When we got to the HD, we went straight to the back where the trash cans are and scanned the huge shelves, looking for the friendly blue bins with the white recycling logo. None. We looked at each other quizzically and found a woman with an orange apron. “Where are the recycling bins?” we asked. She said, “Well, if we have them, they would be here, but they aren’t a big seller here, so it doesn’t look like we have any.”

What could we say but, “Oh.”?

It was a bit confusing and not just a little humorous to us that in a state where they don’t use salt on ice to preserve the environment, a recycling bin could not be found in the Home Depot…because there wasn’t a market for them!

So we continued to throw recyclables in the trash. First the excuse was that we were in transition, and then it was the pregnancy and newborn stage. Finally, after seeing the recycling truck go by the house for two and a half years, I called our trash company and had a pleasant 5 minute conversation with the woman at our trash company. She simply and politely explained the rules, and in doing so, raised my respect for Colorado tremendously. All that I needed to do was to separate glass, cans, paper and plastics (1 and 2 only). I should put them each out in a separate bag, paper or plastic, and the trash people would put them in the recycling part of their truck. No need for a plastic bin that would itself need to be recycled someday, just put recyclables in something recyclable and you’re good to go.

Paper bags seem to be easier to use for separating items. So, this whole process has made me finally bold enough to answer “paper” to the “paper or plastic” question at the grocery store, though I’ve noticed that the baggers aren’t well trained in how to pack them anymore.