Earth Day

New Jersey was pretty serious about recycling.  It was actually a law that you must recycle there- you could be fined if you were caught not recycling.  We had a large bucket-style bin in which we placed all cans, glass and plastics (numbered 1 and 2) and we also had a large lidded bin (like a garbage bin) for paper and cardboard.  Recyclables were collected every other week and garbage was collected twice a week, every week.  Also, it is worth it to note, that the garbage men would take whatever you had on the curb next to your bin.

In England, they are serious about recycling too, but it is different.  They are so serious about recycling that they inadvertently make it mandatory by only picking up your garbage every other week.  And, they will not take anything that does not fit into your garbage bin.  So, if you don't recycle, you will be overloaded with garbage.  We have a black garbage bin and a green recycle bin.  Plastics, paper, cardboard and cans can be placed in the green bins, but not glass.

  There is a separate large recycle container (dumpster) at the village hall for dumping glass.

Our recycle bins are picked up on alternating weeks with the garbage bin being picked up on the recycle off week.  We also have small gray bins- a really small one for under the sink...

 ...and a slightly larger (but still small) one for outside.

These gray bins require compostable liners and are for food waste.  I can put leftovers, vegetable peelings, bones, eggshells, coffee grounds and tea bags in them.  Once the small container under the sink starts filling up- or starts to smell foul- I can remove the bag and place it in the bin outside.

This gray bin is collected EVERY week.  It's brilliant, really.  I really like the concept of the kitchen waste caddy as it seems- without garbage disposals in the sinks- I dump out a lot of food.

Finally, even though this is not related to recycling it is still about conserving energy and therefore relevant, I wanted to talk about the wall outlets here in England.  In America, we were always being told to save energy by unplugging items from the wall while not in use.  It makes sense, and it helps, but, let's face it, I don't have time (or maybe I am too lazy) to go around unplugging everything every day when I leave the house.  It just isn't going to happen.  And that is why I LOVE the way England handles this.  Each outlet has a switch that can be turned off and on.

When you need to use that outlet, simply flip the switch to on and when you are done, flip it back off.  Again- brilliant!

And if this whole informational post bored you- here is a previous Earth Day post about the time Zoe locked me out of the house on recycle day.  She was two at the time.


Happy Earth Day!