Here in the Pacific Northwest it is easy to take the local passion for conservation for granted because most local residents and business take sustainability very seriously. This last year my husband and I moved into a new apartment complex. To our surprise recycling service was not offered in conjunction with the bi-weekly trash pickup. Instead we were treated to an ominous brown trash compactor filled with everything from cardboard, cans and bottles to kitchen scraps and plastic grocery bags. The owner was proud of the trash compactor because he saved so much money by going to biweekly trash pickup, but he neglected to spend the extra money saved on recycling service.

We loved everything else about the apartment complex, but were horrified by the prospect of throwing away that many recyclable materials. I let the recycling pile up for weeks while looking for a solution.

A relative heard about my dilemma and mentioned a local recycling center run by the city’s private school system. I looked into it and found that the recycling depot was in the middle of town and was run exclusively by volunteers. They took most of the traditional recyclables such as cans, cardboard, and paper. In addition, they took many difficult to recycle items such as cheese wrappers, cereal bags, pens, markers, candy wrappers and ink cartridges. My problem was solved, plus I began setting aside many of the other items that would ordinarily be put into the trash even if I did have recycling pickup.

The school works with a company called Terracycle. The mission of the company is to eliminate the idea of waste. They take waste that is sent to them from organizations or individuals from all over the country (and other countries) and use it to make a wide verity of products. In additional, those who send in items also get credits for what they send. These credits are them converted to cash and donated to the school or charity of your choice. This explains the schools desire to set up a depot in the middle of town.

I definitely encourage anyone who does not have recycling pick up to see if there are other recycling centers located in your city. Even if you can’t find a center in your city, you can go online at www.terracycle.com and register to submit items on your own. It would also be easy to set up a small processing center at your business. Pick a couple items that you want to collect. Then, place collection bins in your office for your employees to bring in products from home for your submittal.