How to Cope with Family Who Won’t Recycle

Keeping the recyclables out of the trash in some homes can be as difficult as keeping the trash out of the recyclables. Some people really just don’t care, even when it’s as easy as picking which of two bins, trash or recycling, their discards go in.

When you have things set up, that can be quite frustrating.

My family in general is pretty good, although my oldest of late has taken to accidentally throwing food into the recycle bin rather than the trash. So much of what she throws out can be recycled that I think it’s almost a reflex to pick that bin. I don’t think it’s a rebellion.

But it did get me thinking about how to cope with people who don’t want to recycle even when it’s easy.

Talk About It

The first step is the simplest and sometimes it even works. Just talk about the issue. Talk about what gets recycled in your area. Talk about why it matters to you.

Ask why they don’t recycle. Ask if there’s anything you can do to encourage them to recycle.

Make Sure It’s Convenient

You can cut down on excuses if recycling is as convenient as throwing out trash. It won’t stop everything, but it can help.

The kitchen is the most obvious place to have a trash can and recycle bin side by side. But any other room where you find there to be a problem, consider adding in a recycle bin.

If people print at the computer a lot, for example, you need a recycle bin there for any wasted paper. It happens. If you only have a trash can there, that’s what will be used. A convenient recycle bin can be a huge help.

Put In Some Extra Effort

If just talking about it doesn’t make any changes, put in a little extra effort yourself and make sure they know that you’re doing it. Pull their recyclables from the trash and put them in the recycle bin. Be upfront that you don’t like the inconvenience of having to do so. Keep your comments appropriate to whoever you’re having the issue with, of course.

Try “An Inconvenient Truth”

Watching “An Inconvenient Truth” isn’t going to convince everyone, but it’s one place to take things. Even if they disagree it’s another conversation starter. Or argument starter, depending on the beliefs of the family member. I do have some relatives who would blow up over even the suggestion to watch this movie.

It’s either get them thinking or arguing. If you want to change someone’s mind sometimes that’s what you need.

Bringing Kids Down From the Christmas Crazies

Even when you keep your own Christmas fairly simple, kids get really wound up around all the presents they get at Christmas time. If you’re like me and have a lot of family giving presents, it can be hard to control just what happens.

With the new year, kids need to recover from getting so much fun new stuff and really taking a look at what they have that they really don’t care about.

This is the time of year to go through the old toys and get rid of any that aren’t really played with if you didn’t do that before Christmas. Send them off to charity. Teach your kids about giving to those who have less!

Honestly, my kids resist the clean out and then love giving the toys away. I don’t hide the process from them at all. I could, very easily. Especially this year with so many of their toys still boxed away in the garage.

But I don’t do that because it’s a great lesson.

They get to do the first sort, which is to get the toys they are absolutely not interested in keeping into the give away pile.

Then comes the challenging sort, when my husband and I get to decide if they’re keeping things we know they really won’t use. This one generates a number of protests often followed by an admission that yes, it’s really not used that much. But it’s special, you see! And they just know that they’ll start using it more soon!

That plea works some of the time but not that often.

We don’t aim for tears or a lot of frustration or anything, and it rarely goes that badly. Talking about the children with very few toys who might be able to get their old toys works pretty well. Children can be amazingly sympathetic if you play it right.

“As Seen On TV” vs. Things That Already Exist

I was kind of amused this year seeing some relatives get so excited about receiving Snuggies for Christmas. Those certainly have taken off! But looking at them made me think of how much they and certain other “As Seen On TV” products resemble things you can get elsewhere in better quality or even already have in your home.

The Snuggie

Take a good look at the Snuggie Fleece Blanket. It’s essentially a backwards, extra long bathrobe without a belt. Flip your bathrobe around, put on some socks or throw a blanket over your legs, and who needs a Snuggie?

Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planter

Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planters aren’t bad, actually, but you can make your own pretty easily. My husband did one a few years back by drilling holes into a plastic bucket. Others make them out of the reusable shopping bags you can buy at the grocery store for $0.99.

Tomatoes certainly don’t mind growing upside down, but if you have the space they’re generally quite happy growing in the usual manner too. Most years we end up doing a little of each, but I think we’ve had the best results growing them right side up.

Aqua Globes

I’ll certainly agree that Aqua Globes work and look nice, but if looks don’t matter, try reusing instead.

You can reuse plastic gallon jugs to do this same work. They aren’t pretty, but they do the job and you aren’t sending the plastic off to the trash or to be recycled after just one use. I like the gallon jugs most because they tend to be sturdier and hold a lot of water.

You can use smaller plastic bottles, but some deform pretty easily and just don’t seem to do the job so well for us.

Aqua Globes are best if you really need to be concerned about appearances. It happens. If you’re using them in the front of the house, for example, your neighbors will probably be happier with the look of Aqua Globes over plastic bottles in the garden. But do remember that glass breaks.

Zorbeez Cloths

The reviews on Amazon on Zorbeez Cloths look pretty bad. That pretty much says it all. They’re supposed to be super absorbent but the consensus appears to be that they aren’t remotely absorbent.

If you want great cleaning cloths, there’s a reason why microfiber has become so popular. Get some good quality microfiber cleaning cloths and you will be much happier.

MagneScribe Pens

Oh, how easily you could replace the MagneScribe Pen with… oh, I don’t know, a regular pen? Are they really so complex to use? And do you really want a pen as a pendant around your neck? Most times sitting on the desk or in the junk drawer will suffice.

Handy Gourmet Vegetable Peeling Gloves

These are just a laugh. To use the Handy Gourmet Vegetable Peeling Gloves you have to first cook the vegetables a few minutes, then allow to cool, then start rubbing off the peels.

Hmm… that old vegetable peeler in the drawer is looking better and better, isn’t it? Throw it in the dishwasher when you’re done and it gets cleaned with all the other dishes. Throw the peels into the compost and they aren’t a waste. Life’s so much simpler.

Pancake Puffs

I mention the Pancake Puffs pan because my kids want one so very badly.

In reality, it’s nothing more than a renamed Aebleskiver pan. If you really want to try this, buy an Aebleskiver Pan instead so you can get something of better quality. If you really need the extras such as the injector you can find those too. Recipes you should be able to find online.

Buying an Aebleskiver pan instead of a Pancake Puffs pan won’t save you money unless you luck into one in an antique shop or thrift shop, but you’ll have the pleasure of denying that hideous “As Seen On TV” industry a little bit of money.

Of course there are many more of these products out there. “As Seen On TV” products are a great example of creating a need where there was none before. Consumerism at its worst for the most part.

Do you have a favorite? Favorite to hate?

Checking Out Disney’s Give a Day, Get a Day

What child doesn’t want to go to Disneyland or Disney World? It’s a hard siren call to resist, even knowing how well they work kids to get them to buy this, that and the other. Especially girls with Princess gear.

But their Give a Day, Get a Day project is still pretty neat. You volunteer for a day and get a ticket to a Disney theme park.

I’ve been looking over the opportunities in my area as well as the ones in my area. Kids as young as 6 can volunteer for certain opportunities within this program, although there are relatively few of those. Makes things challenging for me, as my daughter has been begging to go to Disneyland for a long time now, and it’s not something I’m willing to spend money on just now.

Combine it with the learning opportunity of volunteering and my resistance goes way, way down.

Some are full already, but they say more opportunities are posted daily. Many want you to contact them to set a schedule.

So many of the ones I know my daughter would love to do are either full or say she’s too young. There’s a trail cleaning one, for example, that you have to be at least 11 for. My kids pick up trash when we go hiking, so it would have been a natural match if it had been available. Rats.

This is one of those things for us that either works out or not. Volunteering is good even if you aren’t getting a Disney theme park ticket in return, after all. But I’ll be checking back for that perfect opportunity.

Joining an Organic Produce Buying Club

I’ve come up with my first goal for the One Small Change for this month. I came across it pretty much by coincidence. My husband happened to comment that one of his coworkers had sent him an email about an organic produce buying club he was in and really liked, and forwarded it to me.

They look really good, and as much as possible they buy from local organic farms. And it’s only $22 a week for this co-op, plus $10 per year. They pool the money to get organic foods at wholesale prices.

Eating local is always a great goal. We used to do pretty well at the old house in Poway with our garden some years. Moving in mid summer meant that this year we didn’t get that benefit.

Anyhow, I’m paying my money and the first pickup will be on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.