Recycling

"Save the can! Save the pull tab, books, papers, glass and plastics!" Some days I feel like a broker of recyclables. Save this for them, that will benefit those.

We all know that recycling is the right thing to do; a win win situation. For our family it is a way of life, and a means for servicing our community.

For starters, in our mud room we have a box of glass returnables, a bag for cans and plastic, a recycle bin for the curb pick up, a box for paper and a bag for books. In addition to our own plastic and can returnables, our church gets the returnables from neighbors and local used book store. (The church won't take glass, so we collect that and do our own run to the redemption center.) The money helps to fund programs for the youth ministry. The latest endeavor was to send 16 pilgrims to World Youth Day in Sydney Australia this past July.

This year, for community service, our Girl Scout troop will collect pull tops and turn them into the local Ronald McDonald House. So while we are counting returnables at church we will be pulling the tabs off the cans. We will also be collecting the coke bottle tops and cashing in the Coke Rewards for the school.

And I confess, that while walking my usual neighborhood block, I scout for the discarded can or two or three or... six. Seeing more than litter, but the nickel plus for the youth, and the pull tabs for those staying at Ronald McDonald House.

To our own paper waste, we add the paper recycling from the book store. This we separate into paper, and books. The paper goes into the paper recycling for cash bin at school while the books get separated into a pile for the school library, books to share with the school's neighboring assisted living community, and now the new Got Books container also at the school. And let's not forget the Box Tops for Education and the Campbell Soup labels that we cut and collect.

It's amazing just how many ways organizations can benefit from recycling. For once you turn down the path of brokering recyclable goods, you see other possibilities. Last month I obtained a huge stash of yarn for the Crafters for Christ. They knit baby blankets and chemo caps. And yesterday I collected yard salable items. A friend who is moving wanted to lighten her load, so we went over a filled our truck with her extras. The church yard sale is coming up.

Over and over we see that, one person's trash is another person's treasure.