Recycling in Michigan: Every Person's Responsibility

Within the last 10 years, recycling has fortunately become more prevalent in the American home. Unfortunately, the effects of people not recycling can be seen and appears to be in the majority of the population. It is disturbing to walk down the street on trash day and see boxes, papers and countless plastic bottles sitting by the curb waiting to be picked up by the garbage man only to be tossed into a landfill. It is sad how easy it is to recycle and yet many do not. If there is no curb-side service for recycling in a neighborhood, many people don't bother to inquire where they could take their recycling and just simply throw it away.

Virtually every town hall or city building has a recycling day whether it is once a month or a few times a year, or at least information as to where locate a recycling center. People do not realize the damage they are causing to the environment by not recycling. They think "What is one more bottle going to matter in the long run?" but when you add that to the existing billions of other bottles, it matters a great deal. Millions of bulk water bottles are purchased from warehouse and grocery stores and I have a feeling that the majority of them are thrown in the trash. The Michigan Recycling Coalition's website says that in 1999 Michigan had a 20% recycling rate, for a total of 1.4 pounds of recycling per person per day. So you have to ask yourself "Am I contributing to that statistic or is someone else carrying my load?" States that do not have a return deposit on soda containers do not attempt to have them recycled, instead most people throw them away.

I try to recycle every bit of plastic, paper and glass I can to try to do my part for the environment. Michigan has the resources so that almost anything can be recycled including cars, carpet, chemicals, etc.. I know it is not much but it is something and I hope that it makes up a fraction for the millions of people that do not think twice about throwing recyclables away in trash. It should be mandatory for businesses to provide recycle containers so all the extra paper from the faxes and copiers can go there instead of just in the trash. One simple call would allow you to know where you can bring the recyclables and help out your community and environment. All you have to do is simply call your town or city hall and inquire about recycle information and they will be glad to inform you of the nearest location. The state of Michigan even has an easy lookup page for contacts in your county.

Just keep the recyclables out in your garage or in your basement and then when the designated time comes around, you can do your part by bringing it to the nearest station. You should feel better about yourself for doing something so easy yet is so amazingly important to the environment. Please make anyone aware who does not recycle to please, think about the environment and the trees that are cut down to be made into paper and to be just thrown away. It truly is amazing what a difference can be made if just a few households start recycling. I hope that yours is one of them.