Recycling: Do You Pack it Out?

Over the long Labor Day weekend, we found ourselves carrying around a number of plastic bottles, cups, and utensils. Normally we try to avoid such things--but out at a family picnic, ice-cold bottled water abounded, and a surprise visit to the coffee shop left us with a couple of iced java drinks packed in plastic.

There was no way around it, so....

We'd stop short of the trash can and, since everywhere we found ourselves was void of a recycling bin, pack the plastics back home. There were only a few snickers from the family, and we were even asked by one family member to help set up their recycling the next time we're in town. So there's progress, right?

What do you do when recycling isn't an option?

Photo: Felipe Wiecheteck/Malko via stock.xchng

Comments (3)

My job doesn't have recycling. I have bins for paper, plastics, etc. About once a month I take them home to recycle.

When I travel I tend to make my back seat my recycling center. When I clean out my car I sort everything out. When traveling without a car I have usually found most cities we go to have public recycling

Pack it out. I've done this forever and my husband also is the official recycle at his office -- they only have 12 employees, so it is manageable for him to collect it all and drop it at the recycling center every few weeks as needed. He collects co-mingled containers and paper board from his co-workers (their building does recycle paper).

Take it out with me. Though most places do have recycling *somewhere* in my city, so eventually I can recycle. The only place I have been recently that didn't was up in Canada on a boat- the garbage collection people sorted it (eww, imo, but whatever), and virtually all of the items were recycled.