My adventures in almost not recycling.

When I moved to Cincinnati, I had no idea how to green my living because I live in a large apartment complex. Now in East Harlem, recycling was readily available in front of the Pathmark on the corner. I remember when I got there I used to see all these people just recycling for the good of the earth! I was so intrigued. Then I looked a little closer and I saw that these people were getting paid to do this and all over the city I would see the same people digging in the garbage for recyclables. It was apparently a profitable career for some! Anyhow - back to Cincinnati -while I knew that recycling bins were available to people in houses, I did not know that I would have to share one with my aunt that lives across town, or find a recycling center in my neighborhood. Because my will to be good to the earth affects the way I sleep at night, it wasn't long before I found the City of Cincinnati's Recycling program and directions to a recycling center near me. So the S.O. and I loaded up a pamper box with all of our cardboard soap and graham cracker boxes, our aluminum and our plastics #1, 2 and 3 but when it came to taking out the recycling, no one wanted to do it. Our dumpster is right behind the complex, so that's easy. But shuttling the trash, sorry, recyclables in the Kia and to a recycling center was a chore we both ignored. So it piled, and it piled and we had a few unwanted visitors enjoying the remnants inside the box. It was then that I begged the S.O. to take it to the recycling center near us and dump it. Reluctantly, he loaded it up and hauled it all to the market but when he got there, he said no one around knew what he was talking about. So for about three days, we rolled around with recycleables in the trunk and backseat. I thank God that none of my friends came to visit or needed a ride anywhere because I didn't want to have to explain the smell and the inconvenience it had been to recycle. It meant a lot to me, however, so I did not give in to dumping it all in the dumpster behind the building. In the end I found the little Rumpke Recycling Center next to the downtown library and Voila! We are one step greener.

Now if I could just get the S.O. to bike to work.... and take the recyclables with him! LOL