I’m washing my garbage

I’m washing my garbage. In 2012 I reduced my paper towel consumption to about 2 rolls a year. And now I have begun to use my recycle bin. My recycle bin comes in about 20 to 30 percent full now. My solution to paper towels is cheese cloths (cloth diapers and I cut them in half. They dust, polish, do windows, dry, remove spills, etc. Then I clean them up out- side and dry them and they are ready for use. I learned a hard lesson one time long time ago when some pledge foam landed in the dog’s drinking water…. So I am a chemical phob-iac for chemicals being applied to the wrong place, so I am careful with my cleaning cloths. I now know that stuff in the recycle bin is hand sorted and that is a big reason to wash the cans. If I do not see the recycle Triangle symbol I call to see if it is recyclable. I found out that if they do not have a symbol it’s usually because there is prep work. Like the dog food boxes that hold the dog food pouches don’t have the symbol, but are recyclable but not the envelopes that actually hold the food. I told my friend that I was making an effort- a comfortable effort for me- to recycle and it was funny \but she voiced my very first frustration- “Why don’t they just take boxes and plastics and glass… and I told her that was the first thing I checked on… and the answer is “boiling points” and boxes reinforced with plastic therefore is not recyclables because the plastic and the box has two different melting points. Well I’ve also managed to knock $50 off my electric bill. And no I do not qualify as a cheap skate. But in my journey of being more aware and efficient I was wondering what were your suggestions and more I could do.

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