Captain Plastic to the rescue!

Happy Earth Day to you

Well, it's almost over at this point, but oh well!

We've actually been doing a little more around our house to be more environmentally responsible and a lot of it has to do with our daughter.

So, I'm kind of embarassed to admit this, but we just started recycling in the past couple of months. It kind of all got going with the Jack Johnson song on the Curious George CD - Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. After listening to it a lot plus {a} asking lots of questions plus my long-standing guilt about NOT recycling surfacing. Now, we're recycling.

Really, it's pretty pathetic that we did not do this earlier due to HOW EASY they make it in our area. All the paper, aluminum, glass, etc. all go into one barrel. I'm FLOORED to see how much our trash is decreased by separating out the recycleables - from two cans to one.

And {a}, our very enthusiatic 4.5 year old, wants to recycle EVERYTHING! We've had meltdowns at restaurants when she's not allowed to bring home her milk carton and/or other trash to put in our recycling bin.

Now,

I'm kind of thinking - why not?

So, the name...

There is a mascot at Seattle Mariners' games called CAPTAIN PLASTIC that they show a little goofy clip of to encourage patrons to recycle their trash at the game vs. just chucking it on the ground.

If I'm being honest, we've always kind of made fun of him...

(and pitied the poor guy that gets to don the muscle-clad spandex suit)

but now we've got our own Jr. Captain Plastic

She has made us

THINK

much more about what we

throw away

and

what we consume.

Those little eyes

see everything

and

aren't afraid to call you out on it!

Unfortunately no picture of Captain Plastic is to be found, but here's our Jr. Captain Plastic:

From about one year ago...apparently the superhero gene is deeply ingrained!

We want YOU to recycle!

THANK YOU for doing your part!

So, we're now recyclers and I just ordered 5 large canvas bags to keep in the car to use for groceries and at Target, etc. I knew we collected an inordinate number of plastic bags, but the impact didn't hit me until the last couple of months. Why? Well, the recycling bin took the spot where I normally stuff the plastic bags under the sink and I've had to find an alternate site.

Now they're much more visible in my daily life and as they're not recycleable and take 1000 years (for most) to decompose I've decided that
ENOUGH is ENOUGH.
I know it will take a while to get in the habit of the fabric bags, but I think it will be a good thing. And here's where I got our new shopping bags.
http://tomorrowsworld.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=621
FYI - I know some grocery stores give you a credit if you bring your own bag so it can recoop the costs of these bags for you in time.

So, there you go...a little change in our household.