Recycling - amazing amount

[sasvermont]

The area I live in has had recycling for years. Recently they changed and we no longer have to sort things. We have wheelie things to dump it all into.... and then we have a dumpster for the other items. We have a huge, private composter in the back yard for food scraps. I dump leaves, scraps of food and grass cuttings.... for future use, of course.

We also have a few special days per year, when you can take your electronics, big items such as mattresses, washing machines etc. for a small price. The event takes place at the end of my street and it is amazing to see the line of cars and trucks waiting to drop off items.. Tires are usually a favorite item too. We even have a day for medications.....unused and unwanted....so that you won't dump them down the drain, allowing them to enter the water systems.

I wish we had more ways of recycling things. I think second hand clothing stores makes so much sense, although I seldom shop in them. I do donate much more than I would ever buy.

We even have a non-profit that takes cars as donations, fixes them and gives them out to the needy.

Vermont is a pretty neat state to live in....very people friendly. Vermont has great public social services as well.

[Pinot's Mom]

We have been recycling ever since we've been married, I think. It was long enough ago that, 1) we had to sort, rinse and unlabel everything, and, 2) we had to put it in the pick up and take it to the dump ourselves. We have also always had a compost pile.

We're now spoiled. We have the big blue wheeled bin, everything goes in, and no prep is necessary. It goes to the top of our driveway (a nice little walk) for pick up weekly. What amazes me is our neighbors. Our driveway has four houses; there are some that "do" and some that "don't". How any normal family can justify the amount of trash they put up there is beyond me! We usually have about a third of a small can to empty every other week. The recycle bin is about half full every week (unless we have a party). There are two humans and one kitty here. The family of four next door puts up two VERY LARGE trash bins and many times separate garbage bags. What are they doing over there???