How to Make Recycling Simplified: 5 Easy Recycling Tips for Everyday Use
With climate change accelerating, now is the time to cut down on your waste production. Making little changes in your home, such as ditching plastic bags for cloth bags is a great place to start.
Recycling is an eco-friendly habit you can adopt in your home to conserve natural resources. Making a conscious effort to recycle plastic bottles and cans will reduce the amount of waste you throw out.
If you’re new to recycling, do not get intimated by sorting rules, we are here to guide you with a few recycling tips.
Why Recycling Should Be Mandatory
Not only is recycling easy to do, but it can also help make a difference. When you recycle, the recyclables are processed into new products. This decreases the need to consume natural resources. It also requires less energy to produce when compared to new products from raw materials. When we save on energy, it decreases the emissions of greenhouse gas which can help fight climate change.
Recycling should be the responsibility of every household because it helps protect the environment from air and water pollution. The cleaner your environment, the healthier you will be.
What Goes in the Recycling Bin?
If you’re not sure what to put in your recycling bin, you’re not alone, and it’s good you want to know. Putting the wrong things in your recycling bins can taint a truck of recyclables, condemning them to the landfills instead.
- Papers: Papers such as newspapers, magazines, notebooks, office papers, and mails can be recycled. Ensure they’re dry and not mixed with other materials before putting them in the recycle bin.
- Plastics: Plastics like food/drink bottles and product bottles can be recycled. Before tossing them in the recycle bin, rinse them clean and discard their plastic tops. Not sure which type of plastic should go into the recycle bin? Try the poke test. If you can easily press your finger through it, it shouldn’t be in the recycle bin. These include plastic grocery bags and plastic wraps.
- Cans: Aluminum and tin cans such as beans and soup cans are recyclable, but they have to be clean. Cans contaminated with food are not acceptable.
- Glass: Glass containers used in storing food and drinks are 100% recyclable. Recycled glass can make up 95% of the raw materials used in producing new glass products. Do not recycle broken glass, it can become dangerous for workers processing them.
5 Easy Recycling Tips to Improve Your Recycling
Here are five recycling tips to help you become environmentally friendly.
- Recycle everyday
- Clean and dry your waste before putting them in the recycling bin.
- Have multiple recycle bins
- Compact the rubbish.
- Buy recycled goods
#1. Recycle Everyday
To make recycling a habit in your home, you have to do it every day. While you’re going about your usual routine, make a conscious decision to spare a few minutes of your time to sort out your recycling.
When you do it every day, it doesn’t pile up into a big chore that you’d rather not do. Get every member of your household involved in recycling. Delegate it just like any other chore and watch it become a part of you.
#2. Clean and Dry Waste Before Putting Them in the Recycle Bin
In any household, food and drink containers end up in the recycle bin the most. However, they require more than just tossing them in the recycling bin. Putting a dirty container in the recycle bin can contaminate a full truck of recyclables.
Next time you have an empty bottle or can to recycle, make sure it’s clean. If it isn’t, make an effort to clean and dry it before putting it in the recycle bin.
#3. Have Multiple Recycling Bins
Placing separate bins in strategic places all over the house will make you a better recycler. Place one in the kitchen for plastic and cans, one in the hallway for papers, and an all-purpose recycling bin in the bathroom.
The aim of having multiple recycling bins is to make recycling convenient enough and give no room for excuse.
#4. Compact the Rubbish
Compact your recyclables. You can tear and squeeze papers before putting them in the recycling bin. Plastic bottles and cans can be stomped on to flatten it before tossing in the recycling bin. The goal is to make them smaller, so you can create space in the bin for other items.
The more space you have in your recycling bin, the more recycling you can do, and the cleaner the environment becomes.
#5. Buy Recycled Goods
The recycling process will not be complete without buying recycled goods. When you buy a product made with recycled materials, you have done your part in preventing those materials to go to waste and end up in a landfill.
Make a conscious effort to demand recycled products next time you go shopping. This will keep the demand for recyclables high and ensure recycling programs continue.
You can start by buying products made with natural, homegrown materials that can be easily recycled like the buckwheat pillow made in the USA and the cotton belle futon cover.
How to Live a Delightfully Smarter life
Research has shown that eco-friendly behavior like recycling can be linked with happiness and a feeling of satisfaction. According to the report, people who promote environmental conservation reported an increased sense of community and higher levels of satisfaction with life. This goes against the popular belief that environmental sustainability takes away your freedom and happiness.
Catherine O’Brien, a professor at Breton University, Canada coined the term “sustainable happiness,” meaning the joy you feel when you contribute to the wellbeing of an individual, a community, or the world without exploiting others or the environment.
From several surveys and polls conducted, it can be concluded that people who recycle and reduce waste where they can are recycling tips, recycling simplified happier than those who do not.
Get a recycle bin today to play your part in reducing waste in the environment and live a delightful smarter life.
