Dumpster Diving & Recycling in the Burbs

As my neighbor pulled up to the Safeway parking lot in her BMW convertible, she scoffed at me while I schlepped over to the recycling center; plastic bags in tow, dripping trails of soda and dripping my own sweat from the heat.

What had I gotten myself into?  I'm a semi-green, cotton grocery bag toting, suburban mom. sorting glass, plastic and aluminum cans, with an occassional broken wine or beer bottle thrown in for good measure.  Why did I raise my hand to volunteer to recycle the containers at our community swimming pool the entire summer?  Well, because I wanted to do my part to help out in some small way.  But emptying large garbage cans of recyclables after every weekend and evening swim meet is getting old fast, as is the smell of stale beer mixed with soda.

 Oh well, it's for the good of the environment, right?  What harm comes of a little beer or soda pop splashed on my new Crocs?