This time of year we all make promises that we will, in some profound way, make the world a better place. I realize my limited capabilities, but the one thing I try to do is reduce my impact on our local landfill. For years, beneath my kitchen sink, I've saved almost every bread tab, can pull, and elastic band, in a series of plastic peanut butter jars. In our home it takes about two years, sometimes less, to fill a 1 kilogram container. Imagine what a small city's worth of 1 kg containers might look like? Twenty-five thousand stacked peanut butter jars would tower 2 1/2 miles into the sky!
To get started simply save the next peanut butter container from your blue box, and begin. I keep a separate one for each recyclable. (Tip: Glue them together to make a more compact recycling centre.) It is extremely gratifying when, after six months or so, you begin to see just how much rubber, plastic and aluminum you are diverting from the dump. Local groups will collect these products for fundraising drives. In the past my niece's Girl Guide troupe collected plastic bread tabs, and aluminum tabs are collected and sold to help buy wheel chairs at my wife's workplace.
So when you are resolving to make the world a better place, don't overlook the small impact you can make from just beneath your kitchen sink.
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