By: Lisa Paris

I'm not one for trash talkin' but after my first visit to the dumps, or "Transfer Station", I have much to share. Humbled by all I had witnessed, and the wafting aromas, I left that garbage party with a lot on my mind. The situation was trashy, and witnessing the expansive sea of crap, got me thinking about how I could do better.

I have always been a recycle junkie, and I realized the true importance of properly separating recyclables while vacationing at the dumps. For example, say you have packaging for a toothbrush- half plastic, half paper. In order to recycle it properly the plastic and paper have to be completely separate so they can go in their separate machines for recycling.

Depending on the state you live in, some will separate recyclables for you, some will not. If you live in a state that does not, then all of your recyclables need to be separated out by you in order to get recycled.

I live in a state that does not go through recyclables for separation but it was wonderful to see that the Transfer Station peeps do attempt to fish recyclables out of the sea of trash. Of course when you see how substantial the waste load is you realize there is no way they could sort it out all by their lonesome.

If taking the time to thoroughly separate your recyclables is a total turnoff, than you can focus your attention on the waste produced from the items you are purchasing. For example, I buy the Preserve toothbrushes where the plastic packaging can also be used as a toothbrush case for travel, as opposed to just trashin'...

On the up and up, I was pleased to learn about the Hazardous Material area of the Transfer Station. This is the place to take all of your toxic materials (old paint, insecticides etc.) where men in white suits looking all kinds of "ET phone home", will safely dispose of/recycle it. Pop on Google to see if your local waste center has a Hazardous Material drop off. If they don't offer one, handcuff yourself to something in protest until they build one...

Or I guess you could write a letter...