Recycling Across America

When you live in a fixed location with all the conveniences of unlimited internet, cable t.v., mail delivery, trash/recycling pickup, etc, you tend to take those things for granted. If you ever give up your sticks and bricks, even if you’re only gone for a few months, you have to decide what you can and cannot live without.

When we’re on the road, we don’t have cable t.v. unless we’re lucky enough to find a campground that offers it. We decided to forgo cable for the time being. It was simply an added cost I didn’t want to pay for right now. The cheapest method is to get a portable satellite at about $500 a pop and set it up every time you move location.

Then there’s the use of internet. We had a 40gb account with AT&T and that was nowhere near enough to satisfy our data hungry appetites. With a crew of four, sometimes five, we needed some serious gig’s. So I bought into an unlimited data plan with Verizon and our problems were solved. If you’re interested in how to make this happen, start with the Technomadia folks. I honestly couldn’t have done it without them.

Since we didn’t give up the sticks and bricks AND because I had someone back home processing all the mail that came in, that wasn’t an issue. But there is a solution for that too. There are companies you can have your mail delivered to and they’ll process it for you. One is called Americas Mailbox and you can find all the details at the link.

Trash pick-up is pretty much a no brainer. Nearly every campsite you go to has somewhere to dispose of trash. If not, or you’re a boondocking soul, landfills are out there everywhere. But the one thing that I was completely shocked about was the lack of recycling facilities.

You see, I’ve been in the habit of recycling for a long time. In fact, we recycle more materials than we throw away. We have two recycle bins and one trash bin we wheel to the curb every week. And once you’re an avid recycler, it’s really, really hard to take a big ole’ plastic jug and pitch it into the dumpster knowing it’s going to take a very long time before it decomposes. And glass jars, that’ll cost you a million years!

So being the earth lover that I am, I was completely thrown aback by how little our country recycles. When we rolled on into Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas with a backup of recycling and found out that they didn’t have any facilities either, I knew it was going to be an issue along our entire journey. I mean come on folks, this is a state park!! You know, those guys who are supposed to care about saving the natural state of things.

Palo Duro Canyon, you’re beautiful but you have no recycling!

So I went to an app I’d found somewhere in my readings while I was prepping for our RV lifestyle. I think it was called IRecycle or something to that effect. I’m not giving any specifics nor even bothering to provide a link because it ended up being a completely worthless app. I looked up recycling nearby and it led me to a totally bogus location. And this happened in more than one location.

So, I pulled up google maps and started searching manually. I called around and basically each person I called acted like I was crazy for trying to recycle jars and jugs.

Me: “Hi, do you guys recycle household items”.

Them: “What types of materials are you talking about?”

Me: “Plastics, glass, cardboard, cans, that sort of thing”.

Them: (with a hearty chuckle in their voice)”Oh no, we don’t take that sort of stuff, only bulk aluminum, you know sheets of it, stuff like that”.

Me: “Okay, do you happen to know of any recycling centers around that take household items”?

Them: “No ma’am, I don’t think there are any nearby”.

Oh boy, that sucks. So I filled up yet another trash bag full of recyclables and shoved it in the bay with its partner. We drove on this way until we hit Albuquerque, piling up our recycling and trying to hold out until we found recycling facilities.

When we did hit Albuquerque, or many of the campgrounds that claimed to ‘recycle’, oftentimes it would only be aluminum cans and no glass or cardboard. I assumed many of them recycled the aluminum because it could be turned into cash that they could pocket. But glass, cardboard and plastic must not yield any bounty.

And while I’m grateful for any recycling efforts, most of my things consisted of plastic, cardboard and glass (remember that million years, ouch!).  Before we headed out, I never anticipated such a dilemma. I always thought I’d be able to find recycling centers almost everywhere I went. Even if I had to haul it there myself. 

So what’s a vagabond to do? Throw up their hands in defeat and allow the earth to swallow up all those jars and jugs? I’m here to say, “NO, don’t do it!”. This is the method to my madness while recycling on the road.

If you find yourself several stops in and you’re recycling is starting to overflow, start getting rid of the cardboard first. Cardboard will decompose much faster than plastic, aluminum or glass containers.  So, I stopped worrying about the cardboard when recycling facilities weren’t available. It went into the trash with my other stuff.

With the cardboard gone, your load should be a lot lighter. If you have the space, try to sort out your plastic, cans, and glass. That way, when you happen upon a place that takes ‘cans only’, you’re ready to get rid of them. By the end of our 8 month trek, I started to separate our recyclables this way. While I don’t have this pop-up recycle container, I’d like to add it to our stash to help sort bottles/cans/paper items. I personally would place ‘plastics’ in the ‘paper item’ bin. 

Another thing that worked well for us was to crush our cans. When you condense them by a few inches, it makes a huge difference. You end up with a little button of a can. The best and safest way to do this is to get a can crusher. There are some great inexpensive options out there.

You may be wondering which places I found most conducive to recycling and which ones get a big fat F? The easiest place for a nomad to recycle has to be Tucson, AZ. While the staff at the campground where we stayed didn’t seem to know where the recyclables should go, with a quick google search, I had my answer. If you’re ever in Tucson, simply find any local park nearby. They have several BIG recycling containers in the parking lots of every local park. And you don’t have to go far to find them. I was in recycling heaven while in Tucson. 

And the big fat F goes to……..Texas. Who would have figured? I mean, their gulf is all a mess with oil spills and fracking abounds everywhere. I apologize if Texas is near and dear to your heart. I know it is to many folks but realize, this is just my observations. It’s impossible to recycle in the areas we were in. But we did find some pretty decent bbq while we were there!

So there you have it folks, the little bit of knowledge I gained while recycling across the country. It wasn’t easy at times but if you care to do it, it can be done. And I hope you care enough to do it. Remember, a million years for a glass jar………….

 {HUGS} from the Crew!

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