In the past, I admit, I have been bad about recycling. My town doesn’t do single stream recycling, so I have to sort plastic, glass (sorted by color) and aluminum. They only take drink cans, so cat food cans have to go someplace else. Cardboard, paper, newspapers and magazines get tied up with twine.
Different things go out on different days. I have a compost bin and a compost bucket for the kitchen but I let it get full and then forget to empty it. The town has an app that used to remind me of trash/ recycling, but they stopped doing that in January. My recycling bins keep disappearing and I have to make a special trip to borough hall to get new ones.
Boy, do I have a nice list of reasons- excuses– for why I don’t recycle everything that I possibly could. This is where the self- coaching comes in. I need to ask myself some questions.
Why don’t I bother to do it?
And what can I do about it?
And how will I make that happen?
I don’t bother because… (be honest)
- I don’t like to have bottles and boxes piled about in the kitchen
- it looks messy
- It’s easier to just throw everything in a bag and be done with it
- No one else in the house helps, so no one holds me accountable
- I forget what goes out when
- I don’t have boxes/ paper bags/ twine
What can I do about it? (Be realistic)
- I can get more recycle bins, or ask someone else in the house to do it
- I can make a spot to organize things as I go instead of having a big pile to deal with the night before collection
- I can buy some twine
- I can read up on the town’s recycling codes
- I can ask for help if I need it
- I can find a way to remind myself
How will I make that happen? (Be actionable)
- I will just order a ton of jute twine for the endless piles of catalogs that my mother in law gets
- I will rearrange some stuff on the porch, in the kitchen, and in the garage so that I have a place to sort as I go along
- Since I can actually use a large cardboard box to hold the other cardboard i will just put one on the back porch. Now I don’t have to flatten, cut, and tie the cardboard.
- I will designate a spare 35 gallon trash can for plastics, since I have the most of those, so I don’t have to get more recycle bins
- I will add recycling dates to the calendar in my kitchen so everyone can see what goes to the curb and when
- I can replace my compost bucket with something that is metal, so it doesn’t get stinky, and has a lid.
Since I used this as an example, as you might imagine it’s something I have already tried. The trick is to be honest with yourself, but not judgmental. What are you doing? What do you want to be doing instead? And how are you going to do it?
By asking around I found out that my friend’s church will take my cat food cans. They collect aluminum, recycle it, and use the money to buy gas for the lawn mower for the church lawn. I’m happy to share that since I have made these small changes we have gone from about 5 bags of trash a week to 2, sometimes less. So that’s a win for self-coaching, and for the earth!
Rebecca, Naturally 