I had a conversation last summer with a swim team mom who announced that she reuses, recycles and renews old to new every day. She saves old bottles, jars, paper bags and so on and reuses them, recycling their use over and over 'til they break or wear out. I wondered how she does it when, after a month, my shelves overflow and become so cramped I can't find anything when I need it. I concluded that either I was missing some trick to the success of this tactic, or she just wasn’t telling the truth.

I began to further assess my situation in order to step up my efforts. What I became very aware of was how many garbage-can liners I was purchasing unnecessarily, when I had supermarket plastic bags that worked just as well.  I stopped buying plastic food-storage containers and began relying on old jam jars and glass containers to store leftovers. Even the brown paper bags that were jammed into an overflowing cabinet are now put to new use as a fireplace fire starter in the wintertime. It works like a charm... I just twist-bundle them, and they must be better for us than those chemically treated bricks.

I guess the bottom line here is to continue being aware and do what you can do without turning a blind eye and saying, "It doesn't matter"—because every recycle and reuse counts and makes a difference!