Recycle Please!!!

Today is Blog Action Day and I've had such a busy day that I've almost missed blogging about it. Today tons of bloggers all over are taking time to write about one topic, our precious environment. How does your environment look where you live? Are you doing anything to improve it? I know sometimes you may ask how can I help, but you'd be amazed how much help YOU can give. Well, here is an easy one for you, recycling. No matter how busy you are or how little you know about the state of our environment, you can recycle. Basically, recycling prevents the waste of materials and reduces energy. Yes all from you recycling.

I know in my city of Charlotte, NC we have the CURB IT program which encourages all residents of the city to recycle by just bringing your little red bin to the curb. Now don't bring it to the curb empty. :) Below is the list of all of the items that can be recycled in our local area and I'm sure it's pretty standard nationwide.

• No.1 and No. 2 recyclable plastics (milk jugs, liquid detergent bottles, plastic soft drink bottles, etc.) Please rinse and remove lids. Lids are not recyclable and should be placed in the garbage.
• Glass - Please rinse and remove lids. Lids are not recyclable and should be placed in the garbage.
• Magazines and Shopping Catalogues - Both magazines and home shopping catalogues are recyclable. Place them in your red Curb It recycling bin or with newspapers. A brown paper bag may also be used, NOT a plastic bag.
• Newspapers - Newspapers and inserts are recyclable. Place them under the Curb It bin or on top or beside the glass, aluminum, metal and plastic in your bin. To prevent newspapers from being blown by the wind, you may stack them on top of, beside or underneath the recycling bin or place them in a brown paper bag. Please no plastic grocery bags.
• Cardboard - Please place cardboard at curbside for recycling collection. Cardboard cannot be scheduled for bulky item collection. To ensure collection, please make sure that all cardboard boxes are empty, cut into pieces no larger than 3 feet x 3 feet, flattened and stacked neatly at curbside on your scheduled collection day.
• Plastic Bottles - Please remove the lids and crush the plastic bottles before placing them in the recycling bin for collection. Lids are not recyclable and should be placed in the garbage.
• Spiral Paper Cans - Spiral paper cans, round cans with spiral grooves on the side and metal bottoms, may be recycled. Remove any plastic or metal lids and rinse or wipe out any remaining food stuff.
• Steel Cans - Steel food containers should be rinsed out to remove any remaining food stuff before placing in the red Curb It recycling bin for collection.
• Telephone Books - Each year the City collects out-dated residential telephone books. Place your directory in the red Curb It recycling bin or place underneath with newspapers.
• Aluminum cans - Please rinse and crush cans before placing them in the recycling bin.
• Junk mail - Mail and envelopes can be recycled.
• Mixed paper
• Gift wrap

This is the easiest thing you can do for our environment. Instead of putting the plastic bottle in the trash can, just recycle it. It's just that simple. This is something I'm even teaching my 2 year old to do. Hopefully, tomorrow morning when you finish with that box of cereal you'll place it in the recycling bin instead of the trash can. Mother Nature thanks you!