One of the things I hate about vacation is the lack of access to recycling. It just about kills me to throw away perfectly recyclable items. When we were at the Cape, I made Andy let me set aside a bag for all the bottles, jars, and cans as well as a box for every scrap of paper and cardboard trash we generated. Well, the paper stuff did OK, but something in the other bag must not have been rinsed out well enough, because Andy claimed there were ants. We threw it all away. I wanted to cry. I should have kept only the cleanest items, like water and milk bottles, and tossed the greasy take-out containers from the start.
At home, I recycle everything. Scraps of paper just one inch square. Plastic rings from around the neck of the milk bottle. Little balls of aluminum foil. Film canisters. Tags pulled off new clothing. My city has quite a good recycling program; pretty much the only thing I can't include is styrofoam. If it weren't for diapers, I would have very little trash to put out every Tuesday. A few Q-tips, some used plastic wrap, a filthy sponge, steak bones, maybe a burnt-out light bulb.
