Get Started

Do you want to make your life a little greener? It’s easy to get started! Just follow the Three Rs:

Step 1: Reduce

Step 2: Reuse

Step 3: Recycle

Why are they in that order?

It’s important to first reduce the amount of things we buy, especially non-recyclable or disposable items. Instead of drinking bottled water at work, use a glass. Spending time outside? Fill up an aluminum bottle instead. Glass and aluminum are reusable, dishwasher safe, and can save you hundreds of dollars a year when you switch from buying bottled water. Glass and aluminum are also recyclable.

After you’ve reduced your consumption of disposable and non-recyclable items, it’s time to find a new use for old items. Quilting is a perfect example of this. Quilters take old t-shirts, blankets, scrap cloth and materials, and re-purpose them into a new, useful item. Instead of throwing something in the recycle bin or trash can, figure out a way to give it a new life. Whether it’s something useful, utilitarian or artful, reuse is an important step in the recycling process.

The last step in the process is to recycle those things that can’t be reused. It’s simple to do; just sort out things like paper, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and glass bottles, and take them to one of the MET’s conveniently-located recycling centers.

Think you need special bins? Think again!

You don’t need special bins with a recycling symbol to keep your recyclables in. Old paper grocery bags work great in apartments (they even have handles for easy carrying!), and plastic tubs or trash cans work well in larger homes. You can buy a different color for each kind of recyclable if you want, and you can download recycling labels here to make it easy to remember which bins to use.