I recently posted about frugal lifestyle, but there is another lifestyle change - green lifestyle.I've been trying to recycle plastics, aluminum and glass but I tell you, the g'ment don't make it easy. I put these items aside and when it comes time to discard them, I have to go hunting for recycling bins. I used to take them to the Kg. Tunku post office but the bins are no more there. And since I moved house, I have not seen one recycle bin anywhere here or near here.
And what's up with these recycling bins? They are so small. Sometimes there is no more place and I'd have to put the trash on the outside of the bin. I would give them to the dumpster truck but I'm not sure if they recycle them. The ones that come by my house is just a lorry and the rubbish is just thrown to the back (not sorted out). At least in PJ they use real dumpster trucks and I see the trash collectors trying to sort out the stuff a bit. But I believe that is for their own financial gain right?
DH mentioned how in Japan they would designate different days to collect plastics, glass etc.... Is this true? Anyway, I just think it is ridiculous how we are encouraged to recycle but not much is done to make it easy.
Anyway, this is what I do to teach my kids about recycling or living green:
- Don't throw away paper that has only been printed on one side. Can use the other side for scribbling and drawing.
- Throw organic trash (like vegetable ends, garlic and onion peels, fruit) into the garden or make compost.
- Turn off the water when brushing teeth. Teach them where the water from the tap comes from. Young children don't usually think about limited water supply. Give them the bigger picture and point out those big water tanks.
- Teach them to turn off lights, fan, TV, radio etc.... My kids always ask us to turn on the air conditioner. They don't understand that air conditioner uses lots of energy. I think I need to introduce the meter box to them and show them the running numbers and tell them what it means.
The town that I'm living now, collects recycled products every other week. It can be quite a hassle to separate the recyclable products from the non-recyclable and then glass/bottles/cans must be cleaned before recycling. But as long as we can do a part to save our Earth, the little inconvenience is nothing.
ReplyDeleteOther green movements...
Go plastic bagless if possible. But if must have plastic bags, we try to re-use the plastic bags as trash bags. Recently I saw Earthember knitted a basket out of grocery plastic bags. Have u seen it? It is a neat idea to recycle the bags too.
We also saved all ribbons, yarns, gift wrapping papers for our craft projects.
Re-use water from Humidifier/Air conditioner for washing deck/patio.
Only turn on AC when it is absolutely necessary (like when temp is above 34degC). We will stay and do our activities in the basement which is usually much cooler during Summer months.
:)
Where I live our local authority (council) run a recycling service and give out different colour bags for people to sort their items into.
ReplyDeleteHowever, ours being a new street means that until they have over 25 requests from "different" households we will not have a recycling service. This is going to be difficult considering our srteet consists of just 4 houses!
Aside from this we a highlt conscientious about consumation of energy and try hard to conserve where we can.
The two kids I have at home with me are 2 and under, so it's difficult to teach them abot recycling and looking after the environment, but my elder two, who live away from me, have enough knowledge to make an informed choice when it come to looking after the environment.
go play golf and have lots of green stuff around. Hit it, chunk it, pull some short stuff to "feel the wind", feel free to hit the ball into the water and sand but most of all hole it ...
ReplyDeleteHmm, suppose you linked the cost of running the airconditioning, appliances, etc to your children's allowances... they get more if the household bill is lower, less if the bill goes up.
ReplyDeleteMight that sensitize the litle ones?
[if they haven't any allowances at the moment, then you could always introduce the concept]
crazymommy:
ReplyDeleteWow, you have to clean them first?
Checked out the knitted plastic bags. That was interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately for us Malaysians, we don't have basements. Maybe we need to start digging. Hahahah.
diesel:
That's a real bummer. So I guess you still have to go the extra mile. Or get more neighbours.
anonymous:
I think I can still hit it straight enough to avoid the water. Hahahah.
cloudsters:
Interesting idea. Yup, they are still too young for allowances. But I could work with that idea and modify it a bit. Thanks!
Cloudsters idea is pretty good, I wish I could have thougt up something along those lines a while back, it would have saved a few hassles!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Lian, I really kind of doubt getting more neighbours is possible, and to be honest I doubt I'd want them either.
the beauty of living where we do is that we get little traffic, little noise and lots of space.
However we are considering a move in the new year to a bigger house as we have a new baby on they way, so maybe we can make efforts to look for somewhere that is better served for recycling?
Hi, I've just found ways to contribute to the environment - garbage enzyme!
ReplyDeletehttp://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2008/06/garbage-enzyme.html