Change like you mean it.

I’m sure that at some point you have lived with other people, and at some point something they did bothered you. So, what did you do about it? Tell them? Stew about it? Passive aggressive notes?

Most of the time, I don’t really mind how things get done, but having spent a lot of time dealing with recycling (both professionally and personally) I can’t help but be disappointed when I find recycling in the garbage and garbage in the recycling. Just the volume of waste in general bugs me, but finding it in the wrong bin provides a target for my dissatisfaction. When it happens in my home, I wonder, "doesn't anyone care about all this %#$@?"

I have tried a few methods to get my roommates to take on better recycling habits. When I find garbage (plastic bags seem to be the most frequent offenders) in the recycling I remind whomever is around that they can’t go in the city recycling, they need to be returned to the grocery store, or better yet, not brought home in the first place. This, I am sure makes me sound like a nag. It also only works for a short period of time, because inevitably every few weeks, I find a plastic bag in the recycling.

I also try to model good recycling habits. I rinse my plastics, I breakdown the paperboard, and I bring the toilet paper tubes from the bathroom to the recycling bin. I can be seen in the kitchen digging recyclables out of the garbage, cleaning them off and placing them in the recycling. And, I take the garbage out of the recycling and put it where it belongs. However, I am still doing these things alone, and still finding recycling in the garbage and vice versa.

I keep meaning to print out one of the Ann Arbor city recycling signs (that shows what can and can’t be recycled locally) to hang over our recycling bin to serve as a prompt and see if that makes a difference. I definitely think one of the weakest parts of our system is that the garbage can is near the refrigerator and the recycling is a good five steps away. For space reasons, this is the best layout. But for someone realizing that they left that big container of yogurt in the fridge too long, tossing it directly into the trash instead of opening, rinsing, and recycling appears to be the most convenient (and least scary) option.

I also think that each of my roommates has a different impetus for making choices and doing things the way that they do. Which makes me think that no single behavior change strategy will be effective for each one. But I realize that I don’t just want this behavior to change, I want each of us to care about the amount of waste we are producing, consider the impacts of our consumption, and realize that when something is thrown away it actually goes somewhere where it sits, forever. I don’t want to preach at my roommates or shame them for misplacing a recyclable, I want them to want to have less garbage and appreciate the difference this can make. So, how can I help our household move beyond the superficial change of habit to a lasting meaningful commitment to thinking about things differently?