The Fire Doesn’t Care If You Sort First

Maybe I just don’t love the environment enough.

This morning I had the duty / responsibility / joy(?) of compiling the recyclables into the recycle bin. Normally my sister does this task while I just carry the load to the roadside for pickup. Boy, I never knew it was so much work to sort everything! Too much work. As I picked through the debris scattered on the basement floor and made little (big?) piles of newspapers, regular papers, corrugated cardboard, and non-corrugated cardboard I found myself thinking of the two burn barrels out on the driveway. Was it really worth it to frummel about with it all? Does it really help much in the long run? I was sorely tempted to dump the combustibles into one of the barrels (without sorting them first) and strike a match. But in the end I dutifully hauled it all to the road (it took several trips). I suppose I felt a flicker of environmental-goodness as I walked back to the house, though I’m still not convinced I shouldn’t have tossed it to the flames.

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