Over the last year, I have gained a whole new sense of pride.

I know it’s such a simple thing, but ever since I decided to start sorting out our trash, I’ve found that I feel better about myself.  I feel better knowing that I’m not contributing as much to our earth’s trash problem.  And, Houston… we’ve got problems.  We’re trashing this planet, and by not being more conscientious, we’re not going to have anywhere to go.  We are our own worst enemy when it comes down to ensuring we have a place we can live… with clean water, an abundance of food, and fresh air to breathe.

We consider ourselves pretty lucky here in Lakewood, CO.  Lakewood has a program where we don’t have to separate our recyclables out.  We just throw everything together, and make a run for the nearest recycling dumpsters– which are only a few blocks away from home.

Not only have we been recycling plastics, papers, cardboards, glass and aluminum, we’ve also been composting out the food stuff into our compost pile.  Double good– less waste, and plus we awesome organic compost to put in our gardens. For free.  I’m amazed at how simple it is!!!

Also, we’ve been making an effort to take our re-usable grocery bags whenever we go shopping.  When they ask us, “Paper or Plastic,” we smile and respond, “Neither!” Sweet.  Fewer plastic bags in the economy means fewer bags landing in the waste landfills.   And perhaps that’ll mean less plastic ending up in the ocean.  Which might actually help us in our fight against losing the marine life… I could go on and on, but do you get the picture of what happens when we’ve devastated our oceans?  Likely that’s so far from your normal frame of thinking, that it’s rarely, if ever, crossed your mind. Knowing that I’m doing MY part… well, that makes me feel good.

Heavy Duty Hemp Grocery Set

The great thing about making efforts to do MY part in reducing waste in the world is that there’s always something new to do or try out.  My latest adventure in “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is purchasing some reusable bags for our produce.  I always sort of felt funny when we would purchase organic fruits and vegetables from Vitamin Cottage… yet it was all in plastic bags.   Gradually, I’ve come to despise plastics… and getting these new mesh produce bags absolutely raise my feel good energy!!!

3B Bags, sold by rad girls from Denver, CO