Paper Chase

When Glen read my last post, he thought the part about refusing receipts at the gas pump and ATM was a joke. When I told him I was serious, he said, "Those are such small pieces of paper. Can't you just take the receipts and then recycle them?"

Sorry to pick on my honey a bit, but this leads me to the LESSON! OF! THE! DAY! that even a green newbie like me is starting to understand. The whole Reduce > Reuse > Recycle thing is hierarchical. Best is to reduce your production of waste, like I did when I refused the receipts the other day. Next best is to find ways to reuse things one or more times before throwing them away or recycling them. Consolation prize goes to finally recycling your waste after you're done with it. Personally, I need to make some improvements in all three categories.

Which brings me to green change #5: When it comes to office paper, I already try to limit my printing to the bare minimum. That's reduce. Jack is really into coloring lately, but he doesn't care so much what he colors on, so I've started giving him my discarded office papers (and papers that come in the mail) for his coloring pleasure. That's reuse.

Now, here's the part where I have to confess something I don't really want to admit: Fairfield's curbside recycling program won't pick up office paper, so I've been throwing it away. You can bring office paper to their facility for recycling, so now that I'm being more conscious about my decisions, I've started collecting the paper in a bag and will bring it to the recycling center when the bag is full.

Does anyone know why they won't pick up office paper at the curb, by the way? They'll pick up cardboard, glass, plastic, newspapers, and magazines, but not office paper. Maybe I need to bring it up with them. I'm sure my neighbors would be more likely to recycle their office paper if they could just toss it in the recycling bin.

Comments

[Heather]

Hey Missy, that whole hierarchical thing is something I knew intuitively but never put words to before, thanks!

I also saw on a sign on the side of the road in Ireland (the seem more publicly eco-conscious over in the UK) that added one more R - Rethink. Which I think is awesome! But if we're going hierarchical, it should be first...