We Recycle!  It’s one of the values that we instill in our young children ages 8, 7 and 5. As a family, we have become proficient in diverting much of our trash into the recycling bin and for that we are very proud.  Regularly each week, we set out 2 curbside bins full to capacity with household recyclables.  In these bins we place a plethora of items from the standard cereal boxes, soup cans and glass bottles to the unconventional milk cartons, juice boxes and all plastic containers.  Plastic that includes yogurt cups, shampoo bottles, milk jugs, and clamshell containers from fruit.

We are fortunate to live in Royal Oak, one of Southeast Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority’s member communities.  SOCRRA is a governmental authority that coordinates solid waste and recycling services for 12 local participating municipalities. (For additional information go to SOCRRA.org.)

The result of this “authority”, in part, is a comprehensive recycling program in which residents can recycle a multitude of items.  These items, otherwise destined to remain intact in an anaerobic landfill, get a second chance at life…a reincarnation, if you will.

The recycling of all plastic containers is especially important because plastic comes from petroleum…and petroleum, a fossil fuel, is a non-renewable natural resource.  It is non-renewable because it takes millions of years for fossil fuels to naturally form.  They cannot be made fast enough to cover the human demand for items made from plastic.  In fact, the U.S. purchases more than half of the oil we use from other countries.

Yes, we definitely “do our part”.  We fill our recycling bins, set them out week after week and watch their contents be emptied into the recycling truck.  (The recyclables are then delivered to the material recovery facility or MRF, sorted and separated and sent off to processors to be made into new items).  We dust off our hands, grab our empty bins and get ready to refill them the next week.  But, do we as avid recyclers really do our part to “close the loop”?  Do we take the time and make the effort to look for, choose and purchase products made from recycled materials?  The items that say “post-consumer recycled content” on the packaging.  Then, and only then, will we have “closed the loop” and purchased products ultimately made from the plethora of items we stuck in our recycling bins at the curbside.  Those products will have come full circle because of the choices we as consumers made at the store.

On every shopping trip from now on, I will make a conscious effort to choose products and packaging that contain “post-consumer recycled content”.  It just requires looking at and reading the labels.  Recycled content can be found in common products and packaging that we purchase regularly.  Things like cereal boxes, paper towels, facial and toilet tissues, laundry detergent boxes and bottles.  Recycled content can also be found in other products from reusable tote bags to clothing and jewelry.  From recycled “plastic” lumber to rubber playground mulch.

Our purchases have the power to create demand for recycled-content products and lend support to recycling programs.  If I and my neighbors and friends, and you and your neighbors and friends, and so forth, all made the effort to do the same, we can collectively, quickly and easily become the catalyst that can make a difference.

Let’s all “close the loop” and be part of the solution!

Tracy lives in Royal Oak with her husband and three children.  She has a degree in Environmental Policy Studies from MSU and has experience in solid waste management, municipal and commercial recycling, surface water quality management and environmental education.  She also helped initiate the Michigan Green School designation at her children’s elementary school. Tracy can be reached at tapurrenhage@aol.com.  Website ecosizeme.com