Oh its so nice to hear that someone is also as environmentally helpful as we are trying to be. I am in the mist of recycling everything and reducing the amounts that we use. I no longer get the plastic bags at grocery stores. I have 8 reusable canvas bags. The ones sold at krogers are the best so far. They have flat bottoms and can hold more than the amount that 3 plastic bags can and they are so much easier to carry and put away. So if you have not already done so, you can purchase them for $1 each and every time you use them at krogers you get .05 credit per bag! I don't get into the other store much other than WalMart and they don't give any credit, but I sure do cut down on all those bags that the walmart cashiers insist on shoving down your shopping carts (one bag per item I think is their motto).
Most public school campuses have recycling receptors for paper product. I make sure that all our boxs and envelopes, newspapers, kids school work, art paper, mailers all go into a paper bag in the house near where I open the mail and in easy access. I take the bag up to the school every week and empty the content.
Aluminum: Our church has trash bins outside where they take aluminum cans and I believe the church elders crush the cans once a week and turn them in for money and the money is donated to the church. Great concept, maybe you can encourage your church or another facility to do that.
Plastic: The HEB on Rayford Sawdust in the Woodlands has a receptor for plastics, I take them up there. Tide, downy containers. Water bottles that I've reused about 5 times b4 they go into the recycling bag.
NW recycling center: This is a great place to dump everything. My glass bottles go up there. So all our beer, and wine bottles goes up there. My hb will take them in for me on the weekends about once a month. I just put the bottles back into the boxes that they came in, I keep these in the garage and out of immediate site. They also will collect all the other products as well and my hb said the workers are helpful in unloading your items. You just need to make sure that they brown and clear glass are seperated, if not and they are not busy they will help you do it too.
I have to admit that I don't do much with empty food cans. I don't use canned products much and having to rinse them b4 they go into the reclying center is a bit of a pain.
I can't get my neighborhood to reactivate thier recycling pickup program. They said that most of the time the trash trucks were picking up the recyling and it all probably got thrown into the trash dump.
Also, if you know of any boyscouts, you make be able to convince him to convince his troop to collect recycling products as one of their activities.
Its pretty amazing that when you do it, how much recyclable trash one family generates. I wish 10% of my friends and neighbors would do 1/2 of what I'm doing. It will be so much better for our kids in the future. We all generate too much trash.
Thanks for contributing