When You're Saving One Can, You're Saving Two Cans!

Or "When you're saving one can, you're saving toucans!"

Every day on PBS Kids, I hear this being said. I don't know what it's a commercial for, or if it's just a public service announcement, but I like it.

I also both love and fear that the other day, the three year old (ALMOST FOUR!!!) looked in the trash can and I said, "Don't touch that! It's dirty!" And she looked at me and said, "I was just looking for cans, Mom."



So, this week, we got two gigantic and heavy bags of recycling from the Dodgers game we went to on Friday. (Free tickets thanks to saving receipts from the 76 gas station.)

Also, my brother kindly donated the many many bottles of Mountain Dew he drained.
Several friends gave some bottles and cans-- more Perrier, Dawn? And the day spa that said they didn't get many bottles gave me a huge bag full of plastic bottles that otherwise would have been thrown away. Yay! See? Every little bit adds up.

$9.20 added to kids' college fund.

TOTAL CAN COUNT: 3451

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!

Okay, so here are a few of the things I've done in my life-- been on TV and won a game show, run the Honolulu Marathon after raising $3,000, JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE. You would think that going around the neighborhood asking local businesses to start recycling and possibly donate their cans and bottles to me would be relatively easy. And it was. But I have been putting this off and off and off. Yay, procrastination. I walked two blocks with Max this afternoon asking local businesses if they recycled and if anyone else picked up their recycling.

One local business, Suburban Martini (which I think is a great store, and Kelly, I love your stuff, and Daisy is too cute) was very into my project. She took a card and said she'd call when she got any sizable about of stuff together and suggested I ask the bar next door. She thought they had someone pick up the recycling, but what did it hurt to ask?

At the bar next door, Gem City Grill, I stopped at the front door. There was a sign that read "No one under 21 may enter." With Max in my arms, that sign almost stopped me from going in. I hemmed and hawed and went back and forth. It was like a force field pushing me back. No, scratch that. It wasn't the sign pushing me back. It was fear. But I thought myself out of it. "What's the worst that could happen? The other store was really nice. What are you afraid of?" I literally went up to the door, turned around back to the car and went back to the door twice. But, I went in and nodded at the man at the bar at 11:00 a.m., who smiled at Max. I continued past the girl shooting pool and found someone who worked there. Tracy (?) told me they already had an older couple who came to pick up the recycling every Wednesday, but she said she used to be an environmental consultant in the early 90s. Oh, that got my attention! And she told me how Waste Management paid people to talk about worm farming and recycling at schools. Also, she used to work for a company called Ecosynthesis. Oh, you can bet I'll check that one out! So, no cans, but I got a little knowledge.

And on and on I went. One block, then another and finally success! Daniel at Y Sharis Spa was a little dubious, I think, as to what I was doing, but I happened to have a brand new recycling bin I got from Bottles and Cans.com and he let me give it to them. He seems to not think they get many bottles and cans, but he will let me come once a week to pick them up. (We'll see how many pile up, little by little. Maybe it'll be a few, maybe not so much.)

Anyway, next I stopped at T Phillips Alehouse and Grill on Myrtle and talked to the bartender there, who was very friendly. She suggested that most of the local bars and restaurants set out their recycling around midnight or 1:00 a.m., and if I was interested I could pick them up then. Hmm... we'll see.

After that, it had been about two hours. My extrovert was tired and I don't know why, but each store seemed like another rock to climb. I was so proud of myself for feeling nervous and anxious and going in anyway. So, we'll see if I hear from Kelly at Suburban Martini, or Lori at Monrovia Florist. But if nothing else, I DID something!



Edited to add: Can total: 3267

And in Other Recycling News

Apparently, I am not the only one with the brilliant idea of using recycling to do fund raising. This couple paid for their wedding with their recycling. Although, they don't have the CRV (California Redemption Value) that we do in this state, so they had to work even harder!

Check out the Yahoo article and their own website!
Wedding Cans.com

And in other news, a man and his worthy crew sailed from San Francisco to Australia on a boat made of plastic bottles. Read more here!

Please, if you see more articles that are bottle and can related, send them to the can mom at fivemillioncanproject@yahoo.com!

Thanks!

FMC: Weekend Update: Monrovia Street Unfair

Okay, so whine, whine, whine, but the FOUR bins I put out at the street fair last Friday were not the huge success I expected. Number one, two of the bins I set out looked too much like plain trash cans and the signs I placed on them were merely bumper-sticker sized, not the giant 8x10 glossies that people need in their faces. The two bins that looked, yes, like recycle bins, got a fair amount of cans collected. I thank you who did look and see what was happening. I understand most people do not have the obsession with bottles and cans that I do. I am an oddball with a penchant for peeking in the can I pass at the store, the gas station, walking down the street. And usually, I find a can or bottle or two.

Most people at the street fair are just there for fun, and not there to concentrate on trash. I'm not asking that people become obsessed here, just that they look around and notice things.

My brother made a hefty donation of Mountain Dew bottles. (Dude, I think you need to lay off the caffeine.) And I made a sad realization that a local Southern California water park (that I am writing an article about) does not appear to recycle. I saw nary a recycling bin anywhere, although water bottles were EVERYWHERE-- even one floating in the kiddie pool for a minute. A quick ask to a teenager working in one of the retail shops, and it looks as if they don't recycle at all. Or maybe I was just asking the wrong person. But, I'm going to ask the right person and see if they would be willing to start a recycling program.

Here's hoping!

This week, we saved 215 cans and bottles, for a total of 3172.