By Lara Kimbrell of The SNSPost

I’ve lived in Texas all of my life. I have a Texas twang, and I wear jeans 6 days a week. I grew up on a cattle ranch, and I’ve worked harder than most of the boys that I knew as I was growing up. I’ve vacationed outside of the state, but I got back as soon as I could. I graduated from Texas A&M University, and I’m a proud Texas Aggie! Lone stars decorate my stone in-lay dining table, and I have a cow skull hanging on my living room wall. Get it? I love Texas.

But as much as I love my southern home, I am very frustrated with the state of the green movement in my area. One major issue for me and others in my area is the lack of recycling infrastructure. I live out in the county where there are no municipal utilities. Therefore I choose my garbage collection service from the four that service the area. There are three smaller companies and even the biggie, Waste Management, serve my area. However not a single one of them offer any type of recycling services! I call all of them every 3 months when my payment is due for my current services, but I keep getting the same answer. We don’t offer recycling services in your area. Waste Management’s website proudly proclaims all of the programs that it offers to make waste management a greener process. But not in my area.

So how does an average person with a green conscience recycle in an area with no supportive infrastructure? Thankfully there are retailers that support recycling. In my area, my local Target store offers recycling bins in the front of the store for plastics, paper, electronics, batteries, etc. The local Lowe’s store also offers battery and CFL recycling. My son gets to keep the money he earns from collecting and selling aluminum cans to a recycler located just down the highway from our road. I compost fruit and vegetable scraps, and my dog is glad that plate scraps never see the garbage can!

I will keep calling the waste management companies. Maybe they will start recycling just so I will quit bothering them! I am sure that their justification would be a general lack of interest in recycling in my area. But then again, how can people get excited about recycling if it’s so difficult to do? Are recycling facilities convenient and accessible in your area? If not, how do you handle it? I would love to hear your solutions and suggestions. Keep taking green steps. Every step is a positive one!

Lara Kimbrell, AKA GreenTXmom & Physicschick, is a wife & mother to three precious little boys. Her family is her whole world & inspire her in so many ways. Alsoa regular contributor to The SNSPost & a published childrens author, she’s a physicist w/ a degree from Texas A&M & taught H.S. physics for years.  She became interested in environmental health due to her oldest son’s asthma & inspired by her curious children she writes to engage all children in the amazing world of physical sciences.