Recycling made difficult

How can I recycle?

Everyone is on the green and recycle kick and I totally understand it because I know that I try and recycle as much as I can.

Recently we were at an Ikea store and when walking by the cart return area I saw something that really caught my attention.  Ikea is really big on recycling and reducing the amount of garbage that is thrown out.  I do like seeing all the recycle and garbage bins within the store to ensure that people do the right thing.

What caught my attention was where the recycle and garbage bins were located.  Sure they have them in the parking lots but I have to admit that the location of the actual bins was a problem.  The bins were located at the centre of where all the carts are returned.  Sure they are tucked out of the way but they are also tucked out of reach of people.  In the case of this location at least one of the rows didn't have carts currently in it but I can image on a weekend there wouldn't be a time that someone could walk down any of the cart aisles to do the recycling.

Another view

I understand that it is difficult to find spots to put the recycle bins in a parking lot but why wasn't there located near the stairs and elevator.  Also if you want them located near the cart return why not put the recycle bin closer to the outside so that more people will but their bottles and cans in the recycle bin and not just through them in the garbage.

Ensuring that you get the message out about recycling and the importance of it can be difficult but making it difficult to actually do the recycling can mean that people just won't care even when the bins are easy to use such as in the store or by the front doors.

Another thing that I noticed that Ikea has a great shuttle service to the closest subway start and again right at the location of the bus is a garbage bin without any recycling.  Sure the recycling is near the door but if you are running for the shuttle all the cans, bottles, etc will end up in the garbage instead of in the appropriate recycle bins.

Recycling is something that we all need to think about and making it easier for people to do it when they are out in public would be wonderful.  So when you see a recycle bin  remember to try and use it if you can reach it.

Recycling

So many people complain about the effort it takes to recycle stuff and part of that is due to the number of conditions of what you can and cannot recycle. There are times when you can't even see the number that is on a bottom on a container to determine if it qualifies or not.

I know that for us we can recycle different things than my parents can, as we live in an apartment building and they live in a house. We both live in the same city so that isn't what makes the difference it is how the items are picked up which is different. I know that different cities have different rules of what is recyclable and that is also confusing.

I know that in some places, especially fast food establishments, you put all your garbage and recyclable into one container and there is someone that sorts it out. I am not sure who does the sorting but I have to admit that I am not 100% confident that these establishments are really doing any recycling. There are other food establishments that go as far as having even a spot where you can dispose of food waste separately so it can be composted.

Recycling - a challenge

We were recently in getting our car serviced and they do have a spot for recycling but now they have put a stool in front of it which means that customers aren't going to recycle when someone is sitting in front of it. For people to do the act of recycling it needs to be something that is easy to do and not require a lot of additional effort.

For us we are people that try and recycle as much as possible. We have recycle bins in our apartment unit in a couple of places so that it is easy to throw the recyclable stuff into the correct bins and then once we have enough we take it downstairs and put it into the large bins that are out the back of our building.

Recycling - bins blocked

The other thing that is easy for recycling is remembering that if you don't need to print something out you just don't. I have been saying more and more things as pdf's and documents onto my computer instead of printing it out. By just not printing things out I am also saving money as I don't need as much toner for the printer or paper. I also have been able to reduce the space that I use sorting all the different things that I printed off.

Recycling is something that we all need to think about and do a bit of. The other thing is that businesses and cities need to make it easy for us to do the actual act of recycling.