A logical place to start recycling is with the stuff that your town collects, such as paper, plastic, and metal. Locally, the RI Resource Recovery website has a wealth of information about Recycling and Waste Reduction, including an informative brochure about how to stop unwanted mail.
With a little bit of effort you can probably find a location to recycle your ink cartridges and cell phones. Many businesses, schools, and churches recycle these.
I started a compost pile this year. My family eats a lot of fresh produce in the summer and I felt guilty throwing all that watermelon rind and corn husk into the trash. Here is a helpful link to "Composting 101"
I also recently learned that #5 plastic can be brought to certain locations for recycling. Earth911 is a website where you can type in what you want to recycle, and your zipcode, and they will give you a list of locations.
If you happen to eat a lot of Stonyfield Yogurt (like me), and you don't want to drive to the local #5 recycling location, you can mail your clean, empty yogurt containers to Stonyfield to be recycled.
Just remember - Think before you throw!
Step 3 - RECYCLE
As I mentioned previously, this step should always be applied last. For example, it is infinitely better to drink water from a REUSABLE container, than to buy a case of water in bottles that can be recycled. The resources (petroleum-based plastic), and energy, to make and transport those bottles could have been saved. And one reusable bottle costs a lot less than several cases of bottled water. Just another example of how saving the planet can also save you money.
