It is not often that mothers get to blame their daughters for something, but I blame my recycling bug on my daughter, Onica Kibby.
She was an environmental science major at Willamette University in Salem, and as she shared what she was learning, I became increasingly aware of the impact my life was having on the environment. Then she bought me a composter for my birthday several years ago and I was instantly smitten. I have so much fun turning food waste into nutrient-rich loam, I cannot wait to take my scraps out to the composter and give it a stir! 
I take special joy in running through the shredder the credit card offers I receive in the mail, and then adding the shreddings to the compost bin. I figure they are adding “manure” to the pile.
To me, recycling is a natural extension of what mothers teach their kids to do — pick up after yourself.
Before you purchase something, be mindful of how you will dispose of it when it is done. I have experimented in my small kitchen with a variety of configurations of recycling centers and the one I have found works best for me is a general, commingled bin in the kitchen and then a sorting area out on the patio. There I sort items into six bins with lids: glass, aluminum/tin, plastic, mixed paper, newspaper and magazines. The compost goes in a bucket under the sink.
Because we don’t use a garbage service, I take the bins to one of the local Sunrise Enterprises recycling centers on my way to work once a week. With these simple recycling efforts we have been able to cut the amount of trash we take to the landfill by more than half.
Away from the house, I am on a crusade against Styrofoam ... specifically the little Styrofoam containers that restaurants provide for leftovers. It never disintegrates, and in 500 years (I did the math!) your great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- grandchildren will still be looking at the container you had to have because you could not finish your sandwich. So I take a reusable plastic container (think Tupperware or Gladware) with me when I go out to eat and pack my leftovers in that.
Restaurants love it! You are saving them money, and as long as you are just filling it with items that are already on your table, it doesn't violate any health codes.
This year I purchased a half share in Big Lick Farms, the community-supported agriculture farm in Myrtle Creek. My produce should start arriving in a couple of weeks, and I am eager to see what I will be getting. In this way I can support a local farmer, enjoy fresh produce for eight months of the year and know that only a small amount of fuel was expended delivering it to me.
The trunk of my car is full of used athletic shoes donated by members of Downtown Fitness and Aerobics toward our Reuse-A-Shoe program at this weekend’s Earth Day and Energy Fair. We collect worn shoes and give them to Nike, and they in turn shred them and recycle them into track and playground surfaces. The Roseburg High Leadership class has been an active participant in this drive, as well as Sunrise Enterprises. We hope to save 1,000 pairs of shoes from going into the local landfill this year.
On the road, my car's carbon generation is offset through Terrapass. I tell them the number of miles I drive in a year and pay them to plant trees to offset that usage. But a better transportation alternative may be in my future. Onica and her husband Ryan just bought an electric scooter and they brought it down this weekend for the Energy Fair for me to try. I have a feeling she may just start me on something new!
Recycling is easy and sensible. It is important that you find a system that works with your lifestyle and available space. Start small by studying your garbage and see what two things you could easily keep out of the landfill (like plastic and mixed paper) and start recycling those. Once you have done that for a couple of weeks, concentrate on another item (like aluminum/tin).
Eventually you will find more and more ways to divert items from the landfill and back into service through recycling and composting.
I love drinking water out of plastic bottles – they are so convenient, measurable and portable. So I wash mine in warm, soapy water and refill them. When they are worn out, I recycle them. It is reduce, reuse and recycle for a reason – reduce waste generation, reuse what you can and recycle what you cannot reuse.
Kathy Presnell is a volunteer with the Waste Reduction/Recycling office of Douglas County. This posting is as published in the News Review.
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