Out of the mouths of my babes

When I was working for the city in the recreation department, back in the day, the pool where I worked was open from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM.  The first activities in the morning were swim teams and lap swimming and our morning guard came in at 5:30 AM to ready the facility.  From his lifeguard stand he had a great view of the huge parking lot and the recycling area in said parking lot.  There were several bins for various recycled items; one for paper, one for glass, one for plastic, etc.  There was also a trash bin.  Each week a city trash truck would pull in to the parking lot in the early morning and empty the trash bin.  It would then go down the line and empty the recycling bins...INTO THE TRASH TRUCK.

Ever since my husband heard this story he has not been a fan of recycling.  He doesn't believe that the trucks that come through our neighborhood really recycles the items.  He doesn't believe that we should recycle, despite the fact that it is included in our garbage pick-up, that we have a container for recycling, and that all we have to do is haul it to the curb once a week.  The only item he would recycle was the newspaper and mostly he would only do that every month or so instead choosing to empty the recycling bin of newspapers into the trash can on trash day.  Any time I put plastic containers or glass into the recycling bin it ended up in the garbage.

Recently we switched garbage companies and Tom opted not to sign up for the recycling service.  We are one of three neighbors who switched companies so the rest of our neighbors still put out their recycled goods in the bin at the curb once a week.  Because we go through water bottles at an alarming rate, I decided to try to recycle them by putting them in a bag I had out in the garage.  My thinking was that on Friday I would dump them in my neighbors recycling bin and help the earth.

Me:  "Darcy, can you please take this big bag of plastic bottles and put them in Bonnie's recycling bin across the street?  Today is the pick-up day for recycling."

Darcy:  "You recycled these bottles?"

Me:  "Yes.  We go through these things like, well, water and I'm tired of throwing them away when they are perfectly recyclable."

Darcy:  "Mom?  Are you recycling behind Daddy's back?"