Grocery stores provide you garbage bags with your purchases at no charge. Simply reuse the plastic and paper bags used to carry your groceries for your own trash. Also, reuse the plastic bags provided with the purchase of many large items, such as chairs, TVs, and computer equipment. Some grocery stores will even pay you if you bring your own bags. If you don't want to use those bags, then recycle them at containers found at many grocery stores.

     Humans throw away a lot of garbage. Eventually the current landfills will reach capacity requiring new ones to be created. Also, some time in the future everyone will most likely be charged by the weight of his or her trash instead of a set fee. Therefore, consider recycling plastic bags, paper bags, and styrofoam at many major grocery stores and plastic, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, glass, and aluminum cans at a local recycling center. Contact a local aluminum recycling center to determine the types of items containing aluminum that can be recycled and that you can be paid for recycling. Recycling most of your trash will also result in a lot less money spent on trash bags.

     Those of you who live in a residence with a common garbage dumpster should consider the ramifications of throwing everything away. As the garbage pickup day approaches, have you noticed the trash piled around the dumpster because it is overflowing! The reason is because a large portion of the trash is recyclable or has not been broken down or crushed. The cost of the dumpster is spread among the many residence in the community, but if the dumpster continually overflows then a larger dumpster or even an additional dumpster will be necessary resulting in a more costly trash removal fee. No one wants to be charged more money, therefore you should consider recycling to reduce the excessive waste in the dumpster.

     Consider purchasing a mulching lawn mower that will cut your grass, mulch the grass into small particles, and then deposit the particles on the ground without the need for any trash bags. The particles will also help to keep your lawn healthy and retain nutrients reducing the need for fertilizer.

     Recycle any batteries instead of throwing them away. The acids in the batteries should be disposed of correctly because they will cause problems in landfills. Take them to your local Radio Shack or Batteries Plus store to be recycled.

     Recycle all greeting cards received either in the paper recycling bins collected by your local government or send them to groups who will reuse them. Send only the fronts of the cards in good condition to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 Saint Judes Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89005-1614 who will use them to create new cards to be used to raise funds for their organization. Also, The Seamen's Church Institute recycles Christmas cards using them to decorate holiday packages for sailors at sea. Send the cards to the Christmas-At-Sea Program, The Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, 241 Water St., New York, NY 10038-2016. The cards could also be used yourself the next season as flight tags, package decorations, coasters, bookmarks, ornaments, and place mats.

     Refer to http://www.earth911.org or call 1-800-253-2687 to determine what else can be recycled and where to recycle it.


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