Green Blues

The lack of education around recycling continues to amaze me. As a life-long, self-righteous Californian, I was hardly shocked when I needed to give my recent new fraternity-brother roommates from Nebraska constant pointers and many reminders about what can and can't be recycled. "Junk mail - yes. Greasy pizza boxes - no. Soda bottles full of chewing tobacco spit - rinse them out first... but not in our kitchen sink!"

But, when I was out with Kevin last week helping a friend of his, a seemingly conscious, educated guy, clear out his garage, I was consistently surprised by what was showing up in (and then getting promptly removed from) the recycling bin. Packing peanuts, the broken tube from a vacuum cleaner, cellophane. Yikes! What was going on here? "Somebody told me that's all recyclable" was his simple answer.

I would agree that figuring out what can or can't be recycled isn't totally straightforward especially when you discover that what is and isn't recycled varies immensely by region and municipality. Still, I think that people aren't realizing that aligning their green, good intentions with practical solutions will take more than relying on hearsay evidence and the latest commercials promoting "eco-everything." Not an easy state of mind to pierce in our current lackadaisical society, but hopefully with enough reminders, separating the curds from the whey protein powder plastic jar will start to become second nature.