Today is the day I will go to the dump and bring in the trash and the recyclables that have accumulated. During the course of working researching family histories, I can generate a lot of paper and I recycle the bad printed copies or any other paper I accumulate. So I wondered how many others researchers out there recycle also. I welcome comments from others and through those comments we might all learn ways to be better at recycling.
I recycle almost everything possible, so when I do go to bring the trash, at least 50% or more of what I take is recyclable. It does not take much to do this. There is a large plastic trash bucket set up for each type of recyclable... tin cans, glass, aluminum cans, cardboard, plastic & I use the cardboard box from a case of paper I purchase as a place to throw all the waste paper I have. Anything I get in the mail that is unwanted and has my information on it gets put through the shredder.
OK, so what can we do, over and above just recycling waste? I begin by looking for products that have recycled content, paper products in particular. Most paper products are labled with what percentage of its content comes from recycled materials. The higher quality paper I use for client reports contains less recycled content than everyday paper I use, but every little bit helps. When you are looking for paper products try and purchase the products that has the highest post consumer material. We can even take this one step further and do our best to purchase products with recycled content that are made in America. I think that just a small step by many can accomplish a lot. With the new year approaching, this may be a good time to take a close look at how we recycle and improve upon it.
The packaging that these products come in are also recyclable. The plastic that wraps the reams of Bright White inkjet paper I use specifically states that it is recyclable plastic, so after I finish with a ream of paper the wrapping goes into the recyclable plastic bin.
I would not classify myself as a "Tree Hugger", although I love my trees, but it only seems to be common sense for all of use to do our part to help contribute to creating a better environment and economy by recycling and using recycled products.