Ideal Bite

All I can add is that Stonyfield Farm's containers are #5, which is not part of most town's recycling program, but you can send your empties back to them for recycling! Read more at: http://www.stonyfield.com/EarthActions/Environmental%20Practices/Environ...

Does anyone know the cheapest or possible free way to get recycling bins? You know the basic blue or green ones? I need a couple for my home and want to get some for our church to set around but every time I search online for bins I get a bunch of retail sites where I can buy nice ones for like $50 (no thanks!). If anyone has any directional advice, it would be appreciated!

I'm all for recycling, but it's a panecea. There are three R's we need to live by, in this order: 1. Reduce 2. Reuse 3. Recycle Notice how recycle is last? The most important thing you can do to help the earth is buy less and reject overly packaged items. Whatever you buy that is in a plastic container, see if you can reuse it for anything, at least fo awhile, before you throw it in the recycle bin. Complain to stores and companies that don't offer refillable containers or that sell overly packaged products. From everything I hear, most of the plastic is not getting recycled :-(

MY SON TOLD ME THAT THE ARMY IN IRAQ NOT ONLY DOESN'T RECYCLE BUT THAT IT BURNS ALL THE PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES THE SOLDIERS USE. HE SAID THE AIR STINKS OF BURNING PLASTIC ALL THE TIME. I WAS ALSO TOLD BY SOMEONE ELSE THAT THE US MILITARY IN GERMANY PAYS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FINES RATHER THAN RECYCLE.

While it's true that glass in Bozeman does head straight to the landfill, it does get reused (better than nothing) to help cover the landfill. Also, thanks to the selfless work of a concerned citizen (hooray...my husband Brian!), the city of Bozeman has decided to continue glass recycling, or collecting, or whatever you want to call it. They want to give Brian and others a chance to find ways to creatively reuse the glass if we can't afford realistically to recycle it. For instance, glass can be used instead of gravel in foundations; it can be mixed with gravel for use on trails; it can be made into permeable concrete, and it can be tumbled and used in landscaping. And while sorting out glass at the landfill may sound like a complete waste, it may prove smart in the long run. Imagine a time in the future when glass recycling is much cheaper and feasible: we'll have our glass sorted and ready to "mine" and use.

The reason glass recycling is a challenge now is because beverage companies no longer collect, sanitize and then refill bottles. It's cheaper for them to purchase PET bottles. Less breakage, less shipping weight. I think if we could push to bring back soda and beer bottle refilling, we'd go a lot further. For one thing it'd reestablish some industry and bring back jobs. If you wanna lessen the carbon footprint for transport, just build more bottling facilities so they don't have to travel as far. It's really difficult. Most glass reclaimed in recycling programs ends up broken. Our crew has taken to grabbing milk bottles from the route and turning them in for the deposit at participating stores. It means the bottle doesn't get broken and it keeps the bottle in circulation and it gives you some pocket change. Why burn fossil fuels melting down flint glass to make another milk bottle, after all. Glass values vary. A reprocessor will pay more for sorted glass, for example. But if you broke a buttload of bottles on your sorting line and weren't able to sort brown from green from flint, you'll get far less money for that glass. It's awful that this is such a profit-driven beast.

Regarding the glassine in envelopes. I have tirelessly ripped all my envelopes apart, removing the glassine and throwing it away, while I recycle the paper. Are you saying that I no longer have to do that and can throw the entire envelope, glassine and all, into the recycling bin? Thanks! Barbara

Bend. OR is much like Bozeman in that while the glass is still being picked up in curbside recycling bins, and most of the public still assumes glass is currently being recycled, it is actually just being stockpiled in a separate section of the landfill where it waits for the recycled glass market to improve. It comes down to the expense of transporting it which is increased when we live on the other side of the mountains from any recycling facility. So when you folks in Bozeman find a good market for which to use all this glass please let us know about it!

Thanks for your efforts, but would like to clarify for your viewers that in most areas - yogurt or other tubs or trays are not recyclable regardless of the # on the bottom. As the former administrator for Denver's recycling program, I can say that all programs struggle with educating on proper plastics recycling and broadcasting this information hurts the cause. In general, plastic bottles only is the rule. Thanks.

Bozeman stopped recycling glass???? The horror! Well here's an idea (albeit a pain in the butt one) drive it to Helena! I live in Helena and I drive my plastic to Bozeman a couple times per month (along with some friends' plastic too)....I can't believe MT makes it so difficult to recycle sometimes!!! :(