Depending upon where you live, recycling can be confusing. Answers to questions aren’t always self-evident. For instance, what can and cannot be recycled? Or, what goes in which bin? Thankfully, Rhode Island has tried to make recycling easier in a hope that more people will participate.

The solution? Single-stream recycling – where households do not have to separate paper from plastic – everything can go in the same bin. Other items can also now be recycled, such as plastic cups, tissue paper and just about any plastic container two gallons or less in volume.

Single-stream recycling was introduced last summer to help the state’s sad 15.9 recycling rate. Yesterday I met up with my neighbor; her daughter was finishing a bottle of water. As she threw it back into her car, her mom said, “Take that out of the car and put it in the trash!” At the time, we were standing right by a recycling bin.

I told them both that they should recycle the bottle for many reasons: landfills are filing up, can be harmful to the environment and, in today’s time when recycling facilities are so readily available, there’s no excuse not to reduce our impact on the environment. Her response to me was something like this: “I try and do everything else, but I admit I’m not good at recycling.”

This points to a simple fact: The state can introduce simpler ways of recycling, but education and a solid public relations campaign are also needed. The “WHY should I recycle?” is just as important now as it ever was.

It would behoove the state and maybe just save some of our valued land to start educating people to nurture a brighter and cleaner Rhode Island.