Lots o' pots...three years' worth, actually
Having carped about my recycling situation, figured a more positive post was in order. Especially light of my recent sense of self-satisfaction at having cleaned my closet of dozens (yes, dozens) of shoes that no longer fit in these post-pregnancy days. I hauled off lots of baby clothes, too. Most were in good shape...and I know they went to a good home.
In the rest of today's post, am primarily going to share a reader's comments about what she does at her workplace (a flower shop)...but, indulge me momentarily in something of a long segue.
If you've ever wondered what to do with large plastic buckets from your garden/landscape buckets (besides dumping them in a landfill or stumbling over them forever), I've learned recently that you have two options:
1. You can use them to plant seeds and seedlings...provided you live in a climate where temperature extremes aren't the norm (hot plastic...withering Texas heat...not good this time of year. Maybe fall or winter?). More unusual, innovative long-term container ideas at You Grow Girl.2. You can contact your local nursery and see if they recycle pots. Ours does. They were pleased to get our supply, which had been stashed in our garage for three years. Now there's more room for my bags and bags of plastic, glass and tin cans waiting for me to tote them away.
As I mentioned in my earlier rant, er...post, a sizeable portion (70% or so) of us don't recycle much or at all. Part of this is because not every community offers it as an option.
But that leaves room for creativity, right? Necessity, mothers, invention...etc., etc.
Onward...thinking more about creative recycling...this time in the workplace...
A reader (and small business owner) writes:
We found out that [a local charity] recycles paper, cardboard and plastic. We breakdown the boxes in which we receive our flowers [again, she's a florist] and take it there when the pile starts to crumble. They do pick up, but, since we're in the delivery business, one more stop when we're close by saves fuel. I save my newspapers and magazines for them too. Recycling the plastic is a bit of work, but I put a large garbage can in the back yard and our bottles, drink lids and straws and anything else goes into it and we take that, too. Unfortunately, they do not accept glass and plastic bags yet. This helps all of us, and they are grateful that ours is clean and separated.
Every Monday when we clean our coolers, and any other time we get flowers, we dump our "used" water on our grass, shrubs and plantings outdoors, NOT on my garden. Occasionally I get an arrrrrrrrrrrgh from co-workers but they soon find out it's a given here. I also try to catch rainwater, of which we've had aplenty, to water the garden…
While some of this is a little more trouble, I feel it's worth the effort to conserve resources and it also helps us conserve on our utility bills, which means we can save money for that rainy day we're all going to have. We are careful with our thermostat setting and don't turn our air on the cool mornings we've had. We turn on our ceiling fans and open the windows. The plus is hearing the birds and all the goings on outside, especially in the shrubs and vines that I refuse to cut back.
Yes, I did say open our windows. That seems to be a novelty these days too.
I am thoroughly enjoying your site and hope that it continues to spark an interest with lots of folk. Conservation is work and I hope that word "work" is not becoming a foreign (so to speak) term to too many. I think it's interesting that so many people now "work out" for their health, instead of just working, period, to maintain home and hearth. You know, sweeping, raking, digging, planting, and painting. Even the luxury of hanging your clothes outside to dry, excepting those with severe allergies. Until I had some clotheslines I put clothes out on the back of patio chairs and benches.
She adds:
I also forgot to mention that we've been saving aluminum cans for years for one man. I believe it is his sole source of income. We now have others on the bandwagon and they drop by bags. I also found that the cat food cans we buy are aluminum, which is another big boost. His health is declining so he doesn't come by as often. I hope to catch him one day to ask where he lives and see if we can deliver these to him. It does my heart good to see him walk up to an enormous pile and smile, knowing he doesn't have to go through dumpsters all day long in the heat.
So, how do you recycle creatively?
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