Recycling really is easy.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...The basics of greener living. For some reason, for me, recycling is the most rewarding. I think it started with that feeling of "I'm really doing something to help the planet" while driving our recycling bins to the drop off containers downtown, before they had curbside pick-up. Now, with curbside pick-up not only do feel even better about my contribution but I find I recycle more, because it's so much easier. However, many people say that they don't recycle because it's too complicated or because they don't have curbside pick-up. Trust me, if I can do it with or without curbside pick up, you can too. The biggest hurdle for me was actually remembering to recycle things and what things to recycle. So, the first thing you should do is contact your local utilities authority, who will tell you what you can and can't recycle and how. I was excited this year because I found out that there are things that we can recycle now that we couldn't last year. In fact, this year the list of what not to recycle is actually shorter than what we can recycle. They can also tell you what bigger household items can be recycled now. Once you find out, print out a list of things that can be recycled and stick it on your fridge. If you have little children, be creative and print out pictures of what can be recycled, so they can help too. Now, just start recycling. The easiest thing to do is get a separate trash can or container for the recyclables, that way you aren't taking them out to the container every time, which will deter you from recycling. If you have to take your recycling to a drop off location, it might be easier to have two or three containers, depending on how they separate the recyclables. If you are new to recycling here are a few tips:

• Rinse out the containers the best you can.
• Remove the lids from jars
  
• Don't recycle wet cardboard - it can jam up the machines.
• Don't recycle bottle tops. They are made of a different plastic.
• If you aren't sure, check the numbers on the plastic containers. Most places don't recycle #6 or #7 containers.

See how easy that is, everybody can recycle and, if you haven't been doing so, I encourage you to make a small step and start. Start with paper - all of your junk mail, opened envelopes, grocery lists, newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, cracker boxes - it all adds up. Each small step moves you forward to greener living. Still not convinced? Did you know...

• Recycling one aluminum beverage can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours or a tv for 2 hours.
• Producing recycled paper requires about 60% of the energy used to make paper from virgin wood pulp.
• Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.
• Glass can be recycled virtually forever. It never wears out.
• If only 30 percent of the population is actively recycling, it is equivalent to eliminating the emissions of 25 million cars.
• The average person throws away 4 pounds of garbage PER DAY.

What will your small step be?