America Recycles Day is November 15. It’s the perfect day to make a recycling resolution and a good time to start making recycling personal. 

Human resolve, such as our determination to accomplish goals and to stay committed to causes, is often motivated by our deepest moral values and highest held ideologies. Like many actions, recycling takes wherewithal and in some cases a vision.  

Many of us know by now that there is a gambit of reasons for recycling, but this information isn’t the primary reason why we recycle, think about getting started, or don’t do it at all.  It’s all about the resolve—that kick in the butt that gets us going and keeps us moving forward.  Without resolve, excuses and justifications interfere and our intentions do not mature.

A vision has given me resolve for over 20 years since I first began to rinse out, save and then drive my recyclables over to Jackson Township in the back of my truck.

Lately, it is there when I have worked all day, cooked for hours, and then have looked down on  a pile of jars, plastic containers, and cans in need of  rinsing out—knowing that a trash container was sitting just under the sink.

For me, recycling is about caring. It’s about taking that extra step, or two, to do something now that will mean a better life for others.  It’s about the future that we are all giving now to tomorrow’s generations.  

When it gets tough I see little faces. I think about my little nieces and nephews, students, neighbors and all the little faces yet to come. These are my vision.

If you aren’t recycling or under-recycling, for America Recycles Day please consider your convictions and establish your own vision (remember make it a “butt-kicker”) and resolve to make recycling personal. If you do recycle, celebrate and look forward to another year of accomplishment! We can all celebrate North Canton’s curbside recycling program, which is now accepting plastics 1 thru 7!

Please commemorate America Recycles Day by sharing your personal recycling vision, reflections and stories as comments to this blog post and renew or establish your resolve by making a pledge to recycle at http://americarecyclesday.org/. 

For more information about North Canton’s local curbside recycling program, visit:  http://northcantonohio.com/?page_id=493. 

Thank you, North Canton, for Caring!