garbage

i've been known to become obsessive about recycling. right now our laundry room/closet is filled with sorted recyclables, patiently waiting for us to figure out where to take them in manchester. seeing people being irresponsible - or just plain lazy - about recycling makes me very angry. i used to dig through my co-worder's under-the-desk waste bin and pull out all the paper he was apparently too 'busy' to dump in the paper bin. the frustrating thing is that recycling has been made so easy. it's free.. you have to pay for trash pick-up [in lansing] per bag.. if half your bag is empty chef boyardee cans you may as well throwing them in the recycle bin instead and save $3.

besides paper, another sore spot is plastic shopping bags. peter and i have tried to use paper or cloth bags for a few years now, and have been pretty successful. paper bags hold more stuff and are very easily recycled.. just fill one with junk mail and set it on the curb.

when i moved out of my apt. i tried painfully hard not to throw anything out. i even krazy glued some broken mugs back together to pass on to friends. i made almost daily deposits at the thrift store in an attempt to salvage every possible thing from the trash bin. being so obsessed with old, previously-loved things, i have hope that someone else will discover my discarded goodies and love them as much as I had.. i can only hope.