Extreme Recycling

As anyone with a GMail account can attest, they have little news feeds and ads just above your emails, which you can customize depending on what sites you want to hear from and keywords that Google grabs from your emails. One of the feeds they give you (whether you want it or not) is the "Recycling Tip of the Day". Because of this site, I now know that there is no limit to the number of times aluminum can be recycled, which is a handy piece of information to have in this age of increased awareness. I'm sure if I wanted to I could figure out a way to get rid of that recycling feed, but I'm just eco-friendly enough that I think it is useful.

You see, I wouldn't say that I am fanatical about it, but I do my best to recycle. I make sure plastic bottles are in a separate container, my old newspapers don't just get thrown away, and I always look for the recycling container when I'm on the street. But, that is about as far as I go. I'm not about to be one of those people who feels like I am failing Mother Earth just because I don't like biodegradable toilet paper. However, in the past couple of weeks I have seen some people going above and beyond to reuse what is at their disposal.

The first example happened down at the beach. Originally, the guy who was hired to construct the new deck was also in charge of taking down the old deck and getting rid of it. The thing is, the old deck wasn't really attached to anything - which is why it ended up in the neighbor's yard following the famous 'No Name Storm' that hit the Cape. After that we bolted it to the house, but didn't take the time to bury the legs. So, if you had the patience to undo a few bolts you could pick the thing up and put it anywhere if you were so inclined. And, apparently, one of these guys was so inclined. A few of them got together and picked the deck up as a group, took it down the street to this guy's house and attached it there. No need for a perfectly good deck to go to waste, I guess.

Then, the other night I was going out to dinner and wanted to go to this Italian restaurant I hadn't been to in a couple of years. As can often happen with restaurants, we pulled in to discover it was no longer in business. But, in place of the old Italian restaurant was... an Italian restaurant. Well, I was craving pasta, so we figured we would give it a shot and went inside. Turns out it is exactly the same as the old place: same layout, same tables, even some of the same staff. I'm pretty sure the only things the new owners changed were the menus and the sign out front. Now, on the one hand, I commend them for consistency and also making the best of out what was left to them. However, I feel the need to point out that they are following the business model of a place that is no longer in business.

You know, I had heard of recycling cars, clothes, computers, books, and Hollywood has shown us you can even recycle ideas. But, until the last couple of weeks I never would have imagined you could recycle a deck and a restaurant. It just goes to show if you put your mind to it, you can pretty much recycle anything.