Recycling (Not So) Basics - Part 1

Hello Dolls!

Diva Zero has been on your ass for a while now to recycle. It is one of every Diva's "must dos" and every Fella's "should dos" and I made it all sound soooo easy, right? Well, it is easy. For me. But I realized that some of you dolls need extra help. As usual, I've got the answers, so read on.

Recycling reduces the need for landfills, prevents pollution, saves energy and conserves resources. Did you know you had that much power in your hot little hands?!? Use your power for good by getting your recyclables to the right place at the right time. That isn't always the simplest thing to figure out, but don't worry - I've done most of the work for you. Just find your level of commitment below and get going.

EASY: No effort at all.
Nice try - ain't nothin' of worth that easy, boo.

MEDIUM: Kick it to the curb (you know you know how to do that!)
All of the items on this list are accepted by most city curbside programs.

Paper. This includes newspapers, magazines and copy paper, but don't sleep on all that other paper you use. Product packaging counts too. From soap to medicine to food - even the center of the toilet paper and paper towel rolls - there is plenty of clean paper and cardboard you can be recycling. Paper also includes phone books. When did they start automatically delivering phone books to our doors and why are they still doing it? Like that cole slaw on my plate when I order a cheeseburger - I didn't ask for it, but whoomp, there it is! Opt-out of automatically receiving phone books at www.ypassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Environmental1&Template=/CustomSource/ZipSearch.cfm

Glass bottles and aluminum cans. This includes all your wine, beer, liquor, soda, etc. And good news - you don't have to waste water by rinsing out all of these items. Recycling centers are equipped to accept slightly dirty containers. So no pressure to eat the worm from that tequila bottle. But you know you want to.

Metal Hangers*. Some areas accept these curbside. Who knew?!

EMPTY aerosol cans**. Aerosol used to be such a horror for the environment, but industry-wide changes have been made so now you can have your oil sheen and recycle it too.

HARD: This takes heart.
These items are not accepted in curbside programs, but there are programs to get the job done. Go hard and take them to your local hazardous waste facility, drop-off center, or use the resources listed here.

Crayons. 60 tons of crayons are made every day out of petroleum based wax. 60 tons! If you are a teacher, parent, participate in recycling crayons here: www.crazycrayons.com/recycle_program.html.

Tennis Shoes. Nike used to be the only one in the game, but now you have choices: www.runtheplanet.com/shoes/selection/recycle.asp.

Batteries. Find where to locally recycle alkaline batteries at http://www.earth911.com/. For rechargeable batteries go to www.call2recycle.org/.

Wine Corks. Find your local drop-off location at www.recork.org/getinvolved/locations/. Your area may not have a drop-off location, but you can frequent restaurants that participate in this program. The restaurant Cork & Fork in Bethesda, MD recycles their corks and more restaurants need to follow suit!

Cassette Tapes. Go ahead and let Kid 'n Play go. It ain't gonna hurt nobody. Best Buy will take all your wack tapes as well as CDs, DVDs and other electronics. Go to http://www.bestbuy.com/ for details.

*Metal hangers. For areas that don't take these curbside, you can take them to drop-off centers or take them back to the dry cleaner for reuse.

**Aerosol cans. If aerosol cans are not empty, they are considered hazardous waste and need to be disposed of accordingly.

DON'T EVEN:
You may feel guilty (good - that's progress!) but if you try to include items that are not actually recyclable, you run the risk of f'ing up the whole batch. Try to be slick and all the real recyclables you contaminated will go to the landfill. Talk about counterproductive. So don't even try to recycle these items:

*Pizza boxes. Its the oil. It makes it impossible to process into clean paper
* Post-its. The adhesive strip is problematic.
*Plastic bottle caps. Although you can't recycle these, Aveda collects them and uses them for packaging of new products. Go to www.aveda.com/aboutaveda/caps.tmpl for instructions.
* Wet paper. When paper fibers get wet they get shorter and harder to recycle.
* Dirty napkins and paper towels. The paper is okay - the nasty messes you used them for are not.
* Disposable coffee cups. We covered this in the last post - are you even paying attention?!

Want to know what else to recycle? Go to http://www.earth911.com/. And when you can't recycle, REUSE! Go to http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/ for smashing ideas from our friends across the pond.

In the next post, Diva Zero will talk plastics. Depending on the type, plastic falls into the medium, hard and don't even categories.

Seriously - plastic is a whole 'nother story. And I'm just the Diva to tell it.

Stay tuned...
Diva Zero
Catch my chic.