Nowadays, many cities are making recycling part of their waste management programs. You no longer need to separate the paper from the plastic or cans. In our neighborhood the community gave us a green bin and you basically throw everything in it that can be recycled. They even gave us a handy cheat sheet that is on our fridge to remind us that many of the daily products that is used can be recycled. If it has a little recycling symbol on it, it goes into the green bin. We are so good with recycling that for the two of us, we only have to put the trash out to be picked only every other week. We have more to recycle than trash. It is a great feeling knowing that all that you buy does not necessary need to be thrown away.

Some of the common things that are recycled are newspapers, junk mail, cans, milk jugs. But you might also want to know that since the birth of the Internet no one uses the phone books that is given to us. We throw those huge phone books into the green bins as soon as they are given to us. I wish there is a way to stop them from showing up in the first place, but that is a different task.

Other things are aluminum foils and trays, aerosol cans, house hold cleaning containers. Also regular plastic, glass or metal containers. You no longer need to peel the label out or clean them out. Recycling facilities are able to handle all that very well.

I mostly reuse the plastic grocery bags as trash bags at the kitchen or bathrooms, but if you have too many laying around the house, you can definitely throw them into the recycling bins. Another option is many grocery stores have bins outside their stores where you can recycle these plastic bags. Now that you have given away all you plastic bags, you should invest in a couple of re-usable grocery bags. Their only $1 in most places, and some stores even give you a 5 cent to 10 cent discount for every bag you use. So after 20 uses, you are basically getting 5 cents back. I really don’t see why more people haven’t switched to re-usable bags.

Another way to reduce your trash is by starting a compost pit in your backyard. I wanted to do this, but after reading about it online, it just seemed like a lot of work. Plus it stinks if you don’t have it covered. If you are hard core into recycling, then you should definitely think about the compost pit. Plus you will have wonderful top soil for your garden. I don’t have an amazing garden and I don’t have the patience into collecting all the decomposable material. I mostly throw thinks into the garbage disposal and grind them in (make sure they are soft enough). Otherwise I throw them into the trash.

You don’t necessarily need to recycle to reduce your trash; you can re-use them. For example you can re-use the hand soap pumps that you use in the bathrooms. I just buy the liquid in bulk and then fill the pumps up once they are empty. The same goes for spray bottles. After the first time, I get the cleaning liquids in a “refill” pack and fill the spray bottles with them. I know this sounds and might look very cheap, but if you buy those liquids in bulk, like from Costco, the unit price is so much less than the once in the little bottles. So in addition to saving the environment, you also save money.

Ultimately someone is paying for all the trash you throw away. It usually is you, mostly in-directly. So changing the way we live will definitely save you money in the long run.