When Robin Migalla talks about producing zero waste for the past two years, she’s happy to share her plentiful tips and knowledge.
You compost what you can and reuse or recycle everything else — even if it takes spending money, the Elgin woman said.
She especially gets animated when explaining how to recycle zippered plastic bags: First, you should wash and dry them so they can be reused, she said. But if you have to get rid of them, you either recycle them with plastic bags or ship them off to a specialized recycler.
The test for where they must go is simple, she explained. Cut out the zipper and tear the bag, and if the material stretches and wrinkles at the edges, it goes with the plastic bags. Otherwise, it’s put in the mail. (More on that later.)
When it comes to recycling, “meat diapers” are the one major pain, she said.
Drawing a blank? According to urbandictionary.com a meat diaper is “the absorbent sheet they put under grocery store meats (like ground beef and pork chops) to absorb raw meat juices in the package.”
Meat diapers are recyclable, but they take a lot of effort. Migalla rinses them, scrapes all the icky meaty stuff — which goes into the compost pile — and then painstakingly separates their layers, which go either into the fabric or plastic recycling bins.
“Some things are so easy to recycle. Some are such a pain,” Migalla said. “These are the most work.”
To the average person, the 61-year-old woman can seem extreme, perhaps even fanatical, in her dedication to recycling.
But she doesn’t judge those who don’t live up to her standards. “When someone is unaware what they are doing is harmful, they can’t be held accountable,” she said.
What if they are too lazy or uncaring to recycle? “You have to ask yourself, what is going on with someone that they can’t care? What’s broken that they can’t care?” she said, not unkindly. “The ability to care is a great gift, and not everyone has it.”
To read the full story, visit http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180518/nothing-in-the-trash-elgin-woman-has-tips-on-producing-zero-waste.