Recycling is something that has been around for quite some time, but there has never been a push like there has been over the last few years. Everywhere we turn, we are hearing about places that are going green and renewable energy sources that can save cities and individuals money. Here are some tips to keep some of those tax dollars in your pocket.

What most individuals fail to understand is that recycling is good for everyone. All of the trash that is generated by residents of a city has to go somewhere. When that trash is not recycled, the city has to take it a trash facility or dump. This does nothing more than fill our land with debris and to add insult to injury, we are paying to do it.

Landfill fees are extremely expensive and far higher than the costs of collecting and sending recyclables out. Recently, the City of Toronto announced a trash and recycling plan that the average recycling percentage for homeowners is now 60%. City staff, settled on the volume-based approach to rubbish in part to raise the additional $54 million per year necessary to make that happen. That may not sound like a lot, but when you break it down, it is like putting food in the fridge for a month by doing nothing more than separating trash. The dirty little secret here is that diverting residential garbage removal (recycling, collecting organic waste, etc.) is much more expensive than burying all our trash in a hole in the ground.

In addition to the tax benefits that can be seen by residents, there is also federal funding to think of. There is a lot of federal funding that is based on the amount of recyclables that every area generates. If they don't hit their numbers, the funding does not get released. That is a heck of a price to pay for not putting things in the right bucket.

Now as far as the homeowner is concerned, what can they do to make things work right? First and foremost, they need to instill the process of recycling in the children. Setting up separate trash cans for bottles, plastics and papers is a great start. Give the kids a small incentive and make the recycling fun for them so that they stick with it.

The next thing to look at is the products that are purchased for the home. For instance, are you buying recyclable containers for dish detergent, for laundry detergent? Checking different containers for the little recycling symbol will go a long way. If people are only buying items that come from recyclables, it will put more pressure on the corporate world to get more involved in recycling.

While there are some companies that have jumped in with both feet and use recyclables for everything that they can, there are others that are still ignoring the fact that recycling will play a huge part in the future of this world. The electronics industry is a perfect example of this. While entire TV's may not be able to be made from recyclables, many of the parts can and there is no reason that they should not be.

Regardless of where people live, recycling should be a part of their life. For those that live in the city, this is even more important because of the congestion and sheer amount of trash that is generated. While it may not be our fault that the world is in the condition that it is, we are stuck with it and recycling is a way to start to get things pointed back in the right direction.