Ways To Recycle

Too many of us (myself included) are not nearly creative enough when it comes to different ways to recycle.

When it comes to the concept of recycling, I would say that most people have good intentions.

I would like to think that most people who recycle want to better their surroundings, but I believe some people have some misconceptions about recycling that prevent them from doing so.

Some people believe that to recycle they must give up a good bit of time or drive miles and miles to the local plant…not true!  :: (another post, recycling 101 tackles that topic)

The fact of the matter is, there are many many ways to recycle that are fast, simple, and easy to do.  The best part is, all of them work to help your local ecosystem as well as the planet’s environment.  Here are today’s 3 simple things you can do to recycle:

Ways to recycle #1:: Buy, use, & reuse Recycled Paper

One simple thing everyone should do is to buy recycled paper products.  This is simple to do as recycled paper products are in the same aisle as the other paper products you normally buy.  Using recycled paper saves trees and keeps fresh paper out of the consumer stream. It also helps to support companies that do what’s right instead of what’s easy by making recycled paper products available.

Recycle Printer Cartridges

The second perfect ways to recycle is to buy re-manufactured printer ink cartridges for your computer printer.  When you purchase recycled ink cartridges, the cartridges are reused instead of discarded in our already overcrowded landfills after a single use .

You can also refill ink cartridges nowadays instead of taking them into your computer store to recycle.  We go a bit more into detail about this in our article titled InkJet Cartridge Recycling.

This does a couple of things I like: first it helps utilize the plastic several times over and second, it takes away the negative carbon footprint that recycling can leave.

Yes, I said carbon footprint (AKA, ecological footprint).  Although recycling is better than not, it does take carbon to run the trucks, the electricity, gas, oil, and the equipment that make a recycling plant run.  This is not to discourage you from recycling, just an FYI that it is always better to re-use than rely on recycling facilities.

Ways to Recycle By Buying Rechargeable

Rechargeable batteries are the final way I wanted to talk about that can make recycling easy.  I use rechargeable batteries on the farm all the time because it saves me money as well as helps protect the environment.  One set of top quality rechargeable batteries can wipe away the waste created by over one thousand normal alkaline batteries.  Rechargeable batteries are ultra efficient and anymore, there are few good excuses not to use them. They also can save you a ton of money, so look for these little beauties to pay off in the long run. Also, the amount of waste they eliminate is staggering.  Rechargeable batteries should be at the forefront for anyone looking to recycle right now.

Seriously, these are just three ideas that can help make recycling simple, time effective, and efficient.  I am not saying that we can see benefit from this immediately, but with more and more people looking to go green, I am certain the small things like this can become commonplace to help preserve our planet.

Have any more recycling tips to share? Leave a comment and tell the world your different ways to recycle!