How Can Recycling Save You Money?

Reduce the number of trash bags you use. Most cities have a recycling program that allows you to recycle your glass, plastics, and papers to reduce waste, and help the environment. We actually have curbside service so our family has no excuse when it comes to recycling since they practically come to our door to get our recyclables. While all cities do not have curbside service, there are many recycling centers available that will allow you to leave your recyclables at either a facility or large dumpster. We've been living in our new house for about six months now, and we've received approximately five phone books during that time. If it keeps up this way, I may end up with twelve phone books by the end of the year, and many of those phone books will end up in our recycling bin. Recycling all of my glass, plastic, newspapers, and alluminum allows me to use fewer trash bags since these things now go in the recycling bin.

Recycle your metal for money. I remember as a kid scouring the neighborhood, side roads, and any other place I thought I could find an aluminum can and thinking about the money I could make by recycling those cans. I never made a huge amount of money, but the thrill of getting a few dollars was worth it as a kid. In today's economy every little bit helps, and there may be hidden treasures in your attic, garage, or backyard that can be recycled. Contact a local recycling center to see if they will accept any of your old metal such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, and outdoor grills.

Reduce the number of trash bins you get from the city. Hopefully by increasing the amount of items that you recycle, you can reduce the number of trash receptacles that you need. It is standard in our area for our utility service to issue two trash receptacles, and an additional trash bin would be an increase on your utility service.

Give your recyclables a new use. I save the plastic food trays from our frozen dinners to use as art trays when my kids do arts and crafts. These can be rewashed and used over and over, and it keeps my dishes from being ruined by some art project that my daughters dream up. While we aren't able to recycle old towels, we reuse them for multi-purpose cleaning (washing cars, using as rag for heavy duty cleaning) this extends the life of the “good towels” and if the old towel is ruined it can just be tossed. Many of my old towels actually arrive in the “old towel” pile when my husband or kids have figured out some way to ruin the “good towels”.