the diversity of cycling
At lunch today, the conversation was about our wonderful afternoon yesterday spent riding our bikes. I referred to is as 'cycling'. I was promptly informed, "Mommy, you are wrong. It's called bike riding." So, I explained it all, how bike is a nickname for bicycle, which some refer to as bicycling, hence the nickname for that is 'cycling'. (They 'get' the nickname thingy, which is why I use it a lot).
At that time, I perused the newspaper and saw a letter to the editor from a person stating that recycling is a waste of money. She claims the use of $300 000 trucks using 5 litres of gas per minute to stop'n'go to do all the pick ups was a waste of money. First of all, I am fairly certain her figures are grossly over-exaggerated. But second, I wanted to tell her to BITE ME cause I, for one, am most proud of my recycling habits.
I recycle everything I can. Even items that I think aren't on the list of permissible items, like the teeny tiny mini-go containers, and even individual yogurt containers. Forget it, I put them in, let someone else suffer the guilt of throwing them in the garbage only to fill the landfills more quickly.
I recycle little tiny raisin boxes.
Whatever I can.
I even bring home water bottles and glass juice jars from Tim Horton's to put in my own recycle bins cause they don't recycle there!! GASP! Holy crap, gonna start a petition and learn this company to put recycle bins in their shops! Who's with me??
When we moved to Montreal, from Ottawa, the system was a little different. We actually brought our bins with us. We fill both bins each week. In Montreal, each house if provided ONE bin to fill. One? Heck, there are weeks I have an extra cardboard box out there filled with recycle-ables (real word?).
I even composted in Ottawa, and am about to start again here. I can't wait.
I do it out of belief that I am doing something good for our world. Do you think recycling is worth it?
As for that other 'cycling' mess us females have to deal with every few weeks or whatever. Now that's the kind of RE-cycling I can do without. Blech.
At that time, I perused the newspaper and saw a letter to the editor from a person stating that recycling is a waste of money. She claims the use of $300 000 trucks using 5 litres of gas per minute to stop'n'go to do all the pick ups was a waste of money. First of all, I am fairly certain her figures are grossly over-exaggerated. But second, I wanted to tell her to BITE ME cause I, for one, am most proud of my recycling habits.
I recycle everything I can. Even items that I think aren't on the list of permissible items, like the teeny tiny mini-go containers, and even individual yogurt containers. Forget it, I put them in, let someone else suffer the guilt of throwing them in the garbage only to fill the landfills more quickly.
I recycle little tiny raisin boxes.
Whatever I can.
I even bring home water bottles and glass juice jars from Tim Horton's to put in my own recycle bins cause they don't recycle there!! GASP! Holy crap, gonna start a petition and learn this company to put recycle bins in their shops! Who's with me??
When we moved to Montreal, from Ottawa, the system was a little different. We actually brought our bins with us. We fill both bins each week. In Montreal, each house if provided ONE bin to fill. One? Heck, there are weeks I have an extra cardboard box out there filled with recycle-ables (real word?).
I even composted in Ottawa, and am about to start again here. I can't wait.
I do it out of belief that I am doing something good for our world. Do you think recycling is worth it?
As for that other 'cycling' mess us females have to deal with every few weeks or whatever. Now that's the kind of RE-cycling I can do without. Blech.
posted by nancy at 1:24 PM
10 Comments:
I wish I was as committed as you. I recycle a lot but probably not as much as I could, if I'm honest. I live in Ottawa and the recycling program here that was once great, is now behind the times. The city no longer takes things it used to and a lot of citizens are pretty peeved about it all. For this city it is all about the dollar. I'm going to use your post to inspire me to do better.
Nancy, I recycle everything I can think of! And I know that we took a step back here in Ottawa but, it was rectified later last year when they sent out a new letter stating everything that can go in. I even throw in a few extras like you do, just because I think they should count.
As for Tim's, I can't believe that they don't recycle. I rarely sit in the store so all the stuff goes through my recycling anyway. We actually use two of each bin for every week. So, yes we have two blue boxes for cans etc. and two black for paper and stuff.
Here's a question, how do you keep the compost from stinking? That is the only reason I haven't started.
My daughter's school has a compost and I learned how to do it from her science teacher.
I like recycling but I hate my cycle.
I'd just like to not feel like snapping someone's head off every 29 days. And I am nearly menopausal, but I STILL get that mad attacks.
Our recycling here in Ohio is not fabulous (the ONE private service in the city recently threatened to stop because they weren't making enough money off it), but I recycle any and everything I can.
I also throw in the extras even though they will have to put it in a landfill. I figure it might give them the extra "push" if enough people start doing it to expand what they're recycling.
Hope springs eternal!
It is totally worth it! We need to ease the load on our landfills. And this is one way to do it.
I cannot bear to put anything that's recyclable into the regular garbage. I recycle everything I can. And I love composting. It is soooo satisfying. I am The Composting Queen. We do it all year round.
Beachmama, the trick to getting your compost not to smell is to use equal parts "brown" and "green" organic matter. I have an outdoor bin that's just for dry leaves. So when I put a bucket full of kitchen scraps in the compost bin I also always add an equal amount of leaves. If you turn it regularly and stab it with a pitchfork now and then it'll turn into earthy-smelling stuff in no time flat.
Glad you got out on your bikes! I had Sarah out, too, hoping to get her stronger this year so she makes me work a bit. I love bicycling (used to call it bike riding but the motorbike guys at work got confused). But after "cycling" so often to get my two kids, I have qualms about using that word now, too.
I'm with you on the recycling, though. Ditto on bringing stuff home to add - I'd even bring my compostables home from my work lunches until they started composting there. I'm really annoyed that they no longer recycle styrofoam as it's really hard to avoid. Visiting friends in Florida and Arizona, they didn't recycle AT ALL (the State, not the friends). Drove me crazy.
We have three composters outside (one for "bigger" stuff and garden waste). I fill two big garbage cans with leaves in the fall and like Andrea, put in a layer everytime I add kitchen waste. To keep the smell down inside, Lee Valley has some lovely stainless steel buckets with lids. As long as I dump it regularly and rinse well after, I have no problem.
My Hubby got recyling going here in our little neck of the woods...to I bring stuff back to recyle too and I have a huge BIN on Wheels that goes out once a month.
It is so totally worth it. You go girl and I for one am quite ready to get rid of my cycling!
The other Andrea, beanie baby, had a cool post about a year ago talking about worm composting. I'd seriously love it try that one, but Beloved outright refuses. I drive him crazy by fishing stuff out of the garbage to recycle. I haven't tried backyard composting yet, partly because I am not sure how to keep it up in the winter. I need to do some research. The Citizen today mentioned 'green box' recycling as a city-wide possibility in 2008. Yay!
My mom is a recycling nut. I think she feels guilty for all the crap they wasted when I was little. :-) I recycle, but am not a fanatic.
Our neighbourhood in Laval does have composting. They provide us with this huge green container, that we can fill with food remnants, grass, leaves, etc... they pick up on Fridays in the summer (and once a month in the winter). Twice a year, you can go buy some (for a tiny fee).
back in my high school days, I was this environmentally-conscious freak whose idea of starting recycling bins was shot down from the get go
so of course, I think that every bit helps and the 3 Rs have always been on the forefront of my consciousness
as for the bicycles, we refer to that activity as "biking" here, which is a good thing as I couldn't bring myself to go "cycling" ;)
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