Recycling...Why People Don't Do It

Go Green!

Every one's doing it.

It's the right thing to do.

And it's really not that hard...

Or is it...

One thing that I have learned in my life so far, is that as a majority people are lazy, and will do what comes easiest. Seriously. I've seen people hire someone to pick up dog poo out of their yard, hang up their Christmas lights, and do their grocery shopping. In general, people will do what's easiest.

Which brings me to my point. Recycling. We have all seen the advertisements to "go green" by using "green" products, "green" shopping bags, and "green" energy systems. And while I am impressed by those who do all of those things, the bottom line is that the easiest thing for most average people to do (without buying a whole new set of cleaning products) is recycle.

And yet, people don't even do that.

Why???

Again, because it's not the EASIEST thing to do. Yes, it is the easiest out of the list of "green" options, but when it comes to recycling or just tossing something in a garbage pail, tossing is easier.

For example: True Story.

Ethan and I have been cleaning out our house. I mean deep down clean. We went though the storage room and collected all the empty boxes of things that we have accumulated over the last few years (plus some we joined together when we got married), broke them down, and went to look up where we could take the cardboard to recycle it.

Guess how many recycling places in Wichita take corrugated cardboard?

TWO.

And only one of those had 24 hour bins available. So, we packed up the large pile of cardboard and set out to our destination. 15 minutes later we pull up to an empty looking warehouse at the address listed. After a couple circles of the place, we figured out that it was the correct location. Now, we just had to find the bins...

So we looked...

and looked...

and FINALLY found a place that looked like it was what we were wanting. There was tons of cardboard in it and a sign that told us exactly what was allowed.

But then...

We saw another sign that said "NO DUMPING!" "Violators will be prosecuted!" With a lovely video camera right next to it.

Uh...now what? Can we dump our cardboard there? Is it just talking about not dumping trash? What kind of prosecuted? Is it worth it?

Nope.

We turned around and drove out.


On a whim, I told Ethan that his mom had said one time that she thought that St. Francis (the church she attends) used to recycle cardboard in a bin out back, but she wasn't sure if they still did. We thought we might as well give it a try. Luckily there was a bin for cardboard.

After the events of that evening, I have come to decide that until recycling can be more convenient and easier, we won't see a huge increase in people participating. Why go through all the trouble when it is just easier to toss it out? Unfortunately that is the world we live in.