Trying to reduce, reuse, recycle!

We love Savannah. We love downtown, we love the beach, we love the people, we LOVE Isle of Hope. There are only a few things I don't love about this city. Number 1 being the public school system, number 2 being the sand gnats, and number 3 being the fact that we're totally behind the times on doing our part to preserve the Earth! Our lovely county does not provide recycling outside the city limits, which we are. As of this fall we now have the option to recycle in our neighborhood through a private company, but when you are paying for things like private school and chemotherapy on one salary you have to pass on paying for things like recycling. So I'm not sure if it's the raging pregnancy hormones or what, but I lately I have been cleaning out and throwing away, a job that never seems quite finished. During this endless quest to rid our home of anything that doesn't serve a purpose I have realized on thing...we garolas produce a lot of trash. After helping my sister with a presentation on landfills for her public health class a few weeks ago, I started feeling really guilty about our landfill contribution. So I decided it was WAY past time for us to recycle. And I mean seriously recycle, more than just hanging onto a bag of aluminum cans and throwing them in the big bin outside the fire station once every couple of months. So after cleaning out I had some extra empty plastic bins and found a very organized location for them. I then sat the kids down and talked to them about what recycling is and how great it is gonna feel to help the Earth by reducing our amount of landfill trash! They were both super excited and Cade totally got it! Cora, not so much, on several different occasions I found her plastic dolls and toys in the plastic bin. But anyway, we collected and sorted for well over a week before I decided our bins were overflowing and ready to be delivered to the recycling center. Last Sunday night cade helped me bag everything and load it into the back of the van. Monday morning after we dropped him off at school Cora and I drove over to the closest recycling center. I figured it would be really simple to figure out, put the proper items into the proper receptacles and be on our way. Well, nothing is ever that simple for me. We got there around 9 am and found it closed with a big sign posted on the gate that said Hours of Operation Wed-Sat noon - 4. Are you kidding me? What about people who work??? How the heck are they supposed to recycle??? So anyway, we left and drove around ALL OF LAST week with giant trash bags of paper and plastic in our car. Then finally on Friday afternoon around 3 I realized that they were opened and we were in the car. This was our chance. So I pull in to a man who greets me with a sign in sheet and tell him I am a total virgin recycler in need of direction. He first directs me to the plastic bin where I unload all of my plastic. He grabbed a bag filled with plastic wrappers and plastic laminating film (that I had as scraps after cutting a bunch of stuff out for Cade's teacher) and he opened it and poured it in and immediately started shouting, "oh no no no no!!!" Then the man practically dives in the bin and starts retrieving everything he's just poured in. I immediately apologize not knowing quite what for and follow his lead in recollecting. He then explains to me that at this center they only take plastic bottles that have the #s 1 or 2 on the bottom. That's it!!! They don't take anything else plastic, even the stuff with the #s 3, 4, and 5! Unbelievable. I thought plastic was plastic and it could all be recycled. I immediately got that I was an idiot for trying to recycle plastic wrappers and laminating film, but inquired about if there was a place I could take the other bottles. He didn't know and gave me a number to call to find out. So I reloaded the remnants of my plastic and moved along to the paper bin where I found out I hadn't exactly gotten the paper thing right either! Who knew recycling was so complicated? So 30 minutes later I left feeling like a total idiot with the back of the van still half full. I called the number the man gave me yesterday and kept getting voice mails and directed from one number to the next. After ten minutes on the phone I gave up for the day and when the # 3, 4, and 5s fell out of the back of my car this morning at the grocery store, my next stop was the city dump! So much for helping the earth!!!