I’ve worked with hundreds of people to help them get and stay organized, in their heads, hearts and homes. Every other client is on overwhelm and bypasses the recycling process altogether, or a little, as they just can’t do it all.
I often joke that “Recycling was invented my men to keep women busy doing nothing!” Okay, just joking! But, most often it is the wife or the woman who is in charge of the recycling and she gets tired of losing her life over one more can or bottle or bag, electronic product, gadget or toy that’s time is past and where and how to recycle it best.
I’ve come across mountains, not molehills, of computer and electronic parts in the guy’s side of the offices and basements in those homes too, just waiting for the time to recycle it all, or the money to do it!
WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE?
Overwhelm, or not enough information on what to do with packaging and old products makes it really easy to just toss and throw and dump stuff into the garbage. But there’s better ways to get ahead of too much waste, or “pre”-cycle, and to stop adding more to our planet’s landfill heaps.
Here are five tips to help you:
1. Seek Out Conscious Creators
Choosing companies committed to the environment will help keep you on the top of the heap of people doing their best to help buy the best in the first place. When you find products from companies that are consciously created and set up to go back to the world in the best of ways it also makes your shopping easier; you’ll buy from those few companies more often to limit one more search and buying from companies who don’t care. This effort can actually be leverage for companies who aren’t supporting less waste to change their ways too!
How do you know who is doing a good job with packaging?
According to Linda Smith of Eco-Cycle in Boulder, Colorado, there are two questions to ask. “The first is does the company handle its own operations in an environmental way, such as their energy supply and their recycling,” she says. “The other side of the coin is whether the product or service comes in responsible packaging or even if the company offers to take back the product after its life is over, as some computer manufacturers are starting to do.”
2. Don’t just recycle—precycle
“Pre”-cycling is thinking about the lifecycle of the product—and its packaging—before you buy. It might mean not buying certain things because of their excessive packaging, like single-serve portions and individual bottles of water. For some people, precycling could translate to buying in bulk whenever possible. For others, it could mean essentially buying less, buying used, or going without, if the packaging is particularly obnoxious.
3. Go online to move end-products around one more time
When you do come to the end of a product’s utility for you, don’t just dispose of it. An organization called Freecycle provides an online forum to match people getting rid of stuff with people who want it. Founded in 2003 by Deron Beal, the group has more than a million members scattered around the country (check out www.freecycle.org for more information).
4. Start where you are, use the JOT Approach
Thinking too cosmically about the endless stream of garbage each one of us creates can cause feelings of guilt, inadequacy, and even paralysis—the oh-what’s-the-use effect. Instead of being overwhelmed by all that you’re not doing, take the just-one-thing (JOT) approach. I’ve been teaching the JOT Method for years in organizing and stress management, it works for recycling too. Go slowly and do what you can—don’t drive yourself crazy trying to do everything at once.
5. Green living does not require living with less
The earth is a big place, but very small when it comes to how we’ve managed it badly over the past decades and centuries. It’s time to be more conscious and caring to ourselves, our neighbors and our planet for the good of all. Dealing with our “stuff” that is ready to go back out of our homes and offices is a responsibility of each person. It doesn’t have to be hard. Enjoy what you have, what you can get more of, what you use and enjoy using, and then release it in the best of ways.
“We can live in a world that meets our needs, and it doesn’t mean we have to sit in a cold, dark room without pleasure,” says Smith. “People need to see their connection to the system and figure it out for themselves. If you see the connection, your life changes.”
For a longer article on this, please visit Natural Solutions online.
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