Monday, August 18, 2008

The Three R's

OK, so our family is not the norm in our neighborhood, or at least I don’t think (???), when it comes to recycling. (Maybe not in other ways too!) I don’t know of anyone that has as much recycling out on the curb every other Monday as we do. We recycle SO much that I’m considering asking Waste Management for a THIRD set of recycle bins and a smaller garbage can. We take our own bags to the grocery stores. We have even started composting, so our “sensitive” papers, our empty cereal boxes, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls get shredded and composted. With two picky little eaters, and one big one, we tend to have a lot of food to throw in there as well. We’re getting ready to order our second compost bin, so we can fill it up while the first one turns into nutritious dirt we can add to our flailing plants and trees in the backyard. Let's face it, Nevada dirt, aka clay, sucks. Of course until the dogs stop trampling everything we try to plant, the dirt won’t make too much difference. I can't think about that too much; it makes my blood pressure rise.

Greg says our recycling and composting isn't for any political or social reasons, but rather a personal challenge to see how much we can recycle and how little we can throw away. He says this lest he be labeled a liberal (gasp!) by those who still think he votes for "the other" (say with disdain) party. However you want to look at it, we are doing our part for our planet.

Alright, I'll get off of my soap box. The point... Our recycling habit/obsession/challenge, along with geekiness, must have a passable gene, for our children have started to get creative in the ways they do their own recycling. Just check out the progression on this Happy Meal box:

IMG_0500IMG_0506

IMG_0513  IMG_0566

IMG_0569  IMG_0577

Maybe it’s not a gene after all. Maybe we have all just listened to the Curious George movie soundtrack by Jack Johnson about a bazillion trillion times too many:

We got three R’s we’re going to talk about today
We’ve got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Now that song is stuck in my head. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time.

3 comments:

  1. I can't help it if being a moderate who recycles looks bad in the family. I mean really.

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  2. The doggie pic makes me giggle. Tee hee.

    You guys are an inspiration! I'm going to re-evaluate our recycling habits. We do glass and plastic but not really anything else currently.

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  3. You need to forward the photos to McDonald's so they can market the "Happy Meal Hat". Just make sure they give you credit! It could be this year's hot halloween costume! Who Knows?

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