Our Family’s Recycling Routine - It’s More Than Just Trash Talk
Recycling, composting, reusing, and donating, is not about guilt. It is about respect.
Do you recycle?
The EPA estimates that Americans generate about 4.9 pounds of waste per person every day. For a family of four like ours, that adds up to over 7,000 pounds of waste each year. But because we recycle well over 80% of what would otherwise go in the trash, we’re saving thousands of pounds from ending up in the landfill.
That might sound impressive or a little crunchy, depending on your perspective. Maybe I’m a hippy? I don’t know. But let me share what we actually do. Maybe you’ll walk away inspired to start doing just one or two more things in your own home.
Grocery Store Recycling Wins
Our local Publix grocery store does more than sell food. They’ve become part of our recycling routine. We return:
Plastic bags – including bread bags, newspaper sleeves, and any bag that isn’t soiled.
Paper bags and packing paper – including Amazon’s recyclable stuffing.
Styrofoam – think meat trays, egg cartons, and rinsed "to-go" containers.
All this gets bundled up and dropped off on regular grocery runs. We keep a dedicated cloth grocery bag just for these items, so it's always ready to go for the next Publix run. These cloth bags also reduce the number of plastic bags we receive on our grocery trips in the first place. That habit alone has made recycling feel almost effortless.
Taking the Recycling (and maybe a little trash) to the Dump
We live about a mile from the local dump, and I’ve long joked that hauling my own trash is a badge of honor. In fact, when the neighborhood trash service tried to sell me on pickup, I pointed to my truck and said, “Why are you trying to take my man card?”
Funny enough, my wife now does most of the dump runs, but that’s mostly because we’re recycling. Here's what we sort:
Cardboard & paper – neatly stacked in their designated trailer.
Plastics & metals – all tossed into one bin. Our local center sorts them after.
Special items – paint, batteries, light bulbs, used oil, and large electronics have special stations. We don’t always hit these, but we try when we can.
And yes, it still makes me sad that they no longer accept glass. For a while, we saved it up and sent it with my mother-in-law to another county. They stopped too. Now, most of it ends up in the trash. I’m keeping my eyes open for local solutions.
When recycling options disappear, like glass, it’s worth asking, what could I reuse this for instead? While most of our glass currently ends up in the trash, we try to find ways to repurpose what we can: glass jars become storage containers for leftovers, bottles can be reused as flower vases, and worn-out clothes or linens turn into rags for cleaning. Reuse isn’t flashy, but it’s an underrated step that often comes before recycling. It also helps reduce our impact even further.
*The under the shelf recycle section in our garage.
Small Acts Add Up
We also:
Donate and repurpose – items we no longer need get sold at flea markets, donated to Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity, or dropped at local rag recycling boxes.
Save aluminum cans – the local fire department has a donation trailer, and we’re glad to contribute.
Send beer bottles – to a neighbor who travels to Michigan and gets $0.10 per bottle. It’s not much, but it helps her and keeps glass out of our trash.
And all our organic waste, including veggie scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells, goes into our compost bin. Over time, it turns into what I call “black gold” and gets fed right back into our garden.
Modeling for the Next Generation
What started as our habit has naturally become part of our kids’ routines too. They know what can be recycled and where it goes. Sometimes they’ll even call me out if I toss something in the wrong bin. And when your kids start correcting you, you know the habits are sticking.
We also do our best to avoid food waste. I proudly wear the title of the household “human garbage disposal,” finishing off leftovers and cleaning my plate. It’s partly how I was raised. I was scolded countless times as a kid if I didn't eat my entire meal. "There's a starving kid in Africa who would love to eat what's left." Anyone else remember getting those lessons as a child?
Respect for the Land
But all of this—recycling, composting, reusing, donating—is not about guilt. It is about respect. Respect for the land we’ve been given. Respect for the people who come after us. It is about using a little less, wasting a little less, and trying to leave our home, community, and planet better than we found them.
A Challenge to You
Maybe you’re not ready to compost or haul trash to the dump. That’s okay. But what’s one thing you could start doing this week? Bring your own bags? Return plastic to the store? Set up a second bin in your kitchen for recyclables?
Start small. It adds up. Once you have made it a habit, it's easy to replicate. For me, it's another thing I can build on whenever I find a new way to make a small but better difference.
If you found this post helpful or inspiring, please like, share, or better yet, subscribe to get my Five4Friday updates. They are and will remain free. I’ll keep sharing what I learn along the way. If you have any more tips or optimizations around recycling and reusing, I’d love to hear them. Drop a comment.
Until next week.