While doing my Spring Cleaning I realized I didn’t want to contribute any further damage to our planet. This issue touches on all four of Common Room’s main topics. We love consuming Pop Culture, eating and preparing great Food, working on our Fitness, and commenting on our favorite Fashions. After a while, we may start to collect too many things and might just throw them out without thinking of alternatives.
My internal lightbulb went off when I read something in the newspaper about Seattle shaming its residents with a big red sticker on their garbage cans if they include recyclable items in their bags/bins. Googling resulted in some great and really easy options to recycle!
Pop Culture –> DVDs/CDs
Throughout the years, I purchased a few CDs and inherited many more. My brother gave me LOADS of mixes he burned and I looked through each one just in case there were tracks on it I wanted to keep. It ended up being very time-consuming, but beneficial. I found recordings of family, including one of myself when I was five making up songs in a mock Spanish gibberish. Good times.
Best Buy actually accepts many different electronics for recycling. Funnily enough finding the Best Buy was easy as it was right next to H&M at our only mall, Kings Plaza, but finding the recycling bin was more confusing. The employees seemed surprised when I asked them where it was, and then they were a bit frightened at my box of CDs.
Quick Note: I recycled my cd cases years ago and now I can’t remember how. I might have put them in a recycling bag and had them picked up by sanitation, but I know there are specific companies that take them as well.
Food –> Composting
I’m looking into composting which means keeping food waste and using it to create healthy soil for gardening. This reduces garbage and helps the environment directly, but… it’s kind of gross. Not sure my family or I will be too into it, but it’s on the to-do list to research more about it.
Fitness + Fashion –> Clothing
H&M offers to take all your unwanted textiles from any source and to actually recycle it. This isn’t like donating. I separated my unwanted clothes into two piles: one of clothing in relatively good condition to be donated and a second of clothes that are just not something I’d like to pass on to someone, including old stockings, socks, and too small underthings.
I went to H&M at our mall and handed in two bags. The sales clerk gave me three coupons, each for %20 off a future purchase (to be used separately). Nice deal.
Here’s another way I am recycling my clothes: upycling! I have a few t-shirts that I won’t wear anymore, they were impulse buys (aka concert tees). So I’m going to make shorts out of them! Gotta love the internet.
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Other Sources:
DVD and DVD Case Recycling
CDs
Stockings
What Are Some Ways You Recycle?
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