Excuses not to recycle we need to stop making.
With Earth Day coming up, we are coming up with many new ways to recycle — as well as many excuses not to.
Here are some common excuses people make not to recycle, along with some new ways to think about them.
1. “I don’t know what to recycle or where to take my recyclables.”
We live in a world where many of us have the world’s information at our fingertips. It may seem tedious to Google it over and over again, but chances are you won’t deviate much from a few commonly-used items. Eventually, what you can and can’t recycle will become second nature to you.
There is also literally an app for everything, including recycling. iRecycle for Apple and Android includes a database of recyclables in different categories, even paint or hazardous waste. 1800Recycling.com, which is also available for iOS and Android devices, uses your GPS location to find nearby drop-off sites.
2. “I’m only one person. It isn’t going to help much.”
One person’s actions over time add up to an immense impact. Even one Google search provided a ridiculous number of examples. Here are a couple that were particularly sobering to me.
Recycling one aluminum can provides enough energy to power a television set for three hours. That means a 16-pack of Pepsi can sustain the energy for a 48-hour Netflix marathon.
The average American household throws away 13,000 pieces of paper a year. You and your roommates probably take care of most of this when you throw your handouts from the semester away.
One individual, through years of consistent action, can make a noticeable impact.
3. “It’s inconvenient.”
We’re students. We’re time-starved. The thought of adding anything else onto our plates — even if it’s just where we dispose of our items — can seem overwhelming.
Recycling doesn’t have to be a huge time suck. You can stack errands together, such as rinsing out your recyclables with your dishes or dropping your used glass bottles off on the way home from shopping. You can also keep a separate bin next to your garbage bin. That way you can recycle and forget it.
4. “It involves a drastic lifestyle change.”
Some are under the impression that living a greener lifestyle involves a dramatic change of lifestyle. We see examples of a person who rarely flushes their toilet to save water, and we think that’s what living sustainably means.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re taking on a greener lifestyle, you don’t have to do it all at once. Start small. These small, successful changes could possibly make you feel good enough to take on more in the future — except for maybe the “not flushing your toilet” thing.
It doesn’t have to be Earth Day to start taking on small, gradual changes for a more sustainable lifestyle.
— Whitney Howard is an English major. She recently got into a debate with her boyfriend about whether or not milk jugs were recyclable. It turns out they totally are. Contact her at whitney.howard@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @omgwhitshutup.