Do you ever get in arguments with your spouse or significant other about trash or recycling? I recently moved in with my girlfriend. If you have not yet made the leap to living with a significant other, from my limited experience I can say there are many challenges AND rewards. My girlfriend is more eco-conscious than most but still not the greenest person on the block. Like most people she is comfortable with her routine, leads a busy life, and values convenience. So, I take it upon myself to reduce the impact for the both of us. Love makes you do crazy things.
Lately the recycling “discussions” have become more heated. It started with the broken lamps and old glassware that had been sitting in the office for 3 months. It recently escalated at my reluctance to throw out the Brita water filter. Let’s just say last night I was “highly encouraged” to get rid of all the “trash”. I cringe when ANYTHING is thrown in the trash. Each time I think, “Can this be reused or recycled? Is this the best way to dispose of this?” Below is a picture of items that I had been hoarding to recycle, reuse, or dispose of properly.
The research one had to go through was time consuming, not to mention the effort it took to properly donate or recycle the items. The glassware and the keyboard went to Goodwill. The Brita filter was mailed to New York for recycling ($2.07). Hopefully, you might have more luck in your town with a Preserve drop off bin. Yes, Preserve does not have ONE Brita filter-recycling bin in the city of Los Angeles! One of the more frustrating parts of this exercise was the fact that Philips does not recycle Sonicare toothbrush heads. I will be able to reuse parts of the snowboard sharpener. The lamps and Garmin mount will unfortunately be thrown in the trash.
I challenge you to carefully consider EVERYTHING you are about to throw “out”. The item does not just disappear from the face of the earth; it still takes up space in a landfill. At the very least, spend a few minutes researching if there is a way the item can be recycled or donated for reuse. For other creative tips to reuse see our previous post. Please also share any stories you have about Green Disputes.
-Joe
March 19, 2010 at 3:51 pm |
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the water filter, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.