Green is the New Black

I notice much more lately than ever before that reusing and recycling are being advertised with some force. I live in a community that has what they call mandatory recycling which is something other than what you probably think, let me explain: We throw all of our garbage into one bin and then garbage trucks deliver the garbage to a transfer station where all the garbage is dumped onto a conveyor belt. I know, ewwww! Then several people (I have no idea how many) stand on either side of this conveyor belt and pick out all of the recyclables. This process makes our community more than 99% compliant with recycling all recyclable materials.

Because we have this system though, the children are not encouraged at home to recycle so the local school district takes on the responsibility for teaching the children about being kind to Mother Earth. The schools tackle this in several different ways including having a recycling drive for each class room, recycling paper in the schools, and this year they are selling "green" baggies with which to enclose sandwiches, carrots, and other lunch items. I think they must also be using the sale of these green baggies to raise funds because they are charging $4 each.

Well, my daughter has bought into the no baggie rule which I think is fantastic! But the thought of multiple $4 baggies being thrown away on accident did not sit right with my pocketbook. So, last weekend when we were out and about we browsed into a store that had all kinds of interesting things and stumbled upon these containers:










As you can see they are made in different styles for appeal to children and for appeal to adults. I thought them less likely to be tossed into the garbage and easily stackable, washable, and economical. The best part, though, is that the children really, really wanted to get them and could not wait to use them for their lunch.

Now I feel we are doing more to be green in a time when we need to be concerned.