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Our world
Think Globally. Act Locally
Local action is still the foundation of our collective recycling success. Consider these actions to help bring recycling to the next level in your own life as well as your community.


  • When recycling bashers rear their ugly and uninformed heads in your community, drop the offending parties a note or write a letter to the editor dispelling their misinformation and clarifying the facts. (Save this article in your files and use our recycling tidbits to discredit their contentions. Visit our "Defending Recycling" webpages for even more.)
  • Do all you can to be the best recycler and composter at home, at work, and on the run.
  • When recycling provisions are absent or inadequate at work, at places you do business or places you visit, politely let the powers-that-be know that it’s easy to get up to speed.
  • If your community is not up to the standards of other outstanding recycling communities, let your municipal leaders know that you can do better and insist that they take action to make it happen.
  • When implementing or advocating recycling in your workplace, at your child’s school, or some other business or institution you frequent, pay attention to the details. A well labeled recycling receptacle with an opening the size and shape of the recyclable, placed next to the waste can serves as a constant reminder to recycle properly.
  • Remember that the first tier of the environmentally sustainable waste management hierarchy is reduction. Shop with the environment in mind. Buy in bulk and look for recyclable containers. Avoid hazardous products like petroleum based bug or weed killers. Make purchases with the plan to repair and reuse rather than consuming and trashing.
  • Don’t forget to reduce your organic waste, too. Utilize your communities yard waste collection program. Compost your yard clippings and food waste in your backyard and “grasscycle” or let your lawn clippings lay rather than bagging them.
  • Be sure to close the recycling loop every time the opportunity presents itself. Plastic lumber and building materials, tissues and paper towels, recycled paper and many office products are now available with recycled content. Ask for them if you can’t find them.
  • To magnify your voice and actions, become a recycling ambassador in your community and help your friends, neighbors and family become better recyclers and stronger recycling advocates.
  • Don’t let the noisy minority that supports open burning or wants to continue inefficient collection practices dominate the public discourse in your community. When these issues arise, mobilize that silent majority that wants to expand or improve your program.

PROP also has two great sets of resources that may be of additional assistance

  • The PROP Technical Assistance page is loaded with information and links that will help you, whether you're starting, maintaining or trying to improve your recycling program.
  • PROP's Fact Sheet Series is another great resource, providing concise one or two page summaries of a number of different recycling topics.