Does Earth Day Even Matter in Lubbock?

Are you doing anything at all for Earth Day?

When I first returned to Lubbock after my years in Austin and Spokane, we put together FMX Recycle Sundays (or it might have been Saturdays). We had a central location with huge bins and we would reward people with prizes for bringing us their stuff. It was a great community effort that eventually fell apart because the city didn't want to provide the bins anymore.

This seems to be one of the problems with Earth Day In The LBK -- the lack of a city-wide push to do better. It just doesn't seem to be a priority. Not having the resources close by for recycling does tend to make people say, "oh well" and let it just fall off their radar.

United Supermarkets has been kind enough to provide space for some recycling bins, but it's still not the convenience of a receptacle by your dumpster or curb. (Yeah, we're all lazy and need these things close by.)

So what are you to do if recycling is really inconvenient? Probably the best thing you can do is try to not purchase items that add to the problem. Probably the greatest example of this would be single-use water bottles and other plastics. It doesn't sound like much, but if you do a little for your little corner of the world and your neighbor does a little, maybe it'll buy us a little more time to figure out a long-term solution to how we handle all of this waste.

If you do get inspired by the concept of Earth Day at all, here's a list of City of Lubbock Recycling Centers and the satellite locations.