Recycling Road Trip

After we were sure that our house had sold late last year Hubby Tony and I had a long list of things to purge before we could move. I posted items on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and monitored the pickups. Hubby Tony organized the garage and basement, making stacks of things for me to get rid of and gathering the old paint and chemicals to recycle.

One Saturday afternoon he made a trip to one of the two county household hazardous waste facilities. When he got there during the posted open hours the gate was locked. Back at home, he sent an email and learned that due to a mix up-the associate had gone to the wrong location. The center apologized, and offered to set up a specific appointment time, but in the bustle of moving Tony never got around to it.

I opened the paint and let it dry out, then tossed the cans in the trash. The chemicals came to the condo with us and got placed on a shelf in the storage area, and the whole recycling project got put on the back burner. Then COVID hit, and the hazardous waste facilities were shut down along with everything else.

They opened up again last week. I told Tony that since I currently have a pretty flexible schedule I would take care of getting rid of the waste and clear up a nice big spot on the storage area shelf. When I looked on the website I saw there were a lot of open reservations, so I chose one for today. Last night Tony helped me identify the things to get rid of, piled them into a plastic milk carton, and put them in my car.

Since the quarantine started in mid-March, I have done so little out of the house that I was really looking forward to my 'adventure'. Even the closer of the two facilities was a 30 mile round trip, so I also found a couple of other errands to do along the way. One of them included buying produce, and the temperature was warm enough that I brought a cooler-the first time I've had to do that this year.

After driving through the bank, stopping at both a grocery and warehouse store I started towards the recycling center. By doing that last I could take advantage of a scenic drive along a greenway. As I got closer to my destination the area got more industrial,  and I found the recycling center next to a large wastewater treatment plant.

The drop off process was easy. There were five cars ahead of me, and when it was my turn I put on my mask and rolled down my windows. The associate asked me for my name, and verified I had a reservation. I stayed in my car while he opened the car's lift gate, removed the chemicals, then closed the lift gate. The associate thanked me for coming in and told me I could leave.

For an even bigger change of pace I came home the more direct way, which was still an interesting drive.  All too soon I was home and pulling into the garage. Today's road trip was over.

Five years ago today: "I Live In A World Of Wonders‏"