the 4 R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Respect

Over the years, in the back of my head a small voice has whispered to me to do my part, how small it might be, to help reduce the pollution I generate!! I have done small things, like refusing to buy water in plastic bottles and opting for reusable water containers instead and switching out all my traditional light bulbs for compact florescent. I am not sure if it is because I live in Oregon and there are a lot of people here aware of these things or if it is just because I am getting older and wiser or maybe a desire to reduce my bills, but I have decided to cancel our trash service!!! We are opting to just have the recycle bin which will save us $45 a month!! How are we going to do this you ask!!! well, here is a list of easy things we are going to do to to reduce our garbage to less than a grocery bag a week!!
1. Use cloth washable grocery bags
2. Use small paper bags (found near the mushrooms) for all the produce we buy, instead of the plastic ones because these are recyclable
3. I went to yellowpagesoptout.com and opted to not have any books delivered, but if they do they are recyclable.
4. We are starting a compost for all kitchen food waste and garden waste. 
5. recycle all paper, plastic containers, glass and metal did you know that even aerosol cans are recyclable?? 
6. Leaving mainly only plastic food wrappers in my trash container! 
Other things that we do to respect our earth that are just fun!!
1. buying from garage sales!!
2. reduce the size of our lawn and plant more edible plants!!
So, if you are thinking of doing the same I encourage you to visit your waste disposal company and print out their recycle chart. I think you will be shocked, as I was, how much can be recycled instead of being thrown away. You may find by making small changes you will be able to do the same thing!!