Tuesday is America Recycles Day

When it comes to trash pickup, Barbara Wagner says we’re all pretty spoiled.

“Somebody comes along and it just disappears,” Wagner said.

, a local business owner and , is a vocal leader in green initiatives and sustainability programs.

Tuesday is America Recycles Day, and Wagner hopes that the unofficial holiday inspires more action.

“I see it as a good time to bring more awareness,” Wagner said. “I know that a lot of people don’t recycle. It would be nice to have more awareness. It’s not hard.”

Havre de Grace to make sustainability an easy task for residents. The city implemented a single-stream recycling program, and in recent changes to the waste pick-up schedule, all residents can have recycling picked up on Thursdays. Residents can identify their recycling can by simply marking a trash can with a large “X”

Wagner takes it a step further.

“Since we live in an apartment and our building takes up the whole footprint of our property, we don’t have anyplace to throw our stuff for old-fashioned composting. So I bought a worm composter,” she said. “All the fresh vegetable waste, and there’s a lot of it since we belong to a CSA, coffee grinds, brown paper, it all goes in there. It just disappears. It makes the most beautiful, rich soil that I put in my window boxes in the front of the store. I love doing it.”

She’s also found a way to reuse household items, and in the spirit of the holidays, she’s made gifts out of what most would consider garbage.

“I’m working on making a rag rug, that’s actually out of the sheets I had in college. They’re a little threadbare. So almost everything could have a reuse,” she said. “This rag rug could be really sturdy. It could last another 30 years or so. The more you get in this sustainability mindset, the more you know each and everything you touch, you think differently about it.”

Wagner said recycling and a green lifestyle can become second nature for most people. For her, it’s almost comparable to a hobby.

“Sustainability, I think, is addicting. Once you take one action and accomplish it, then you start thinking about other things you do,” she said. “It could get out of control.”

Wagner admits she has some things to improve upon. Although she recycles virtually everything that comes into the home, she would like to do a better job with reducing the amount of plastic bags she gets at stores.

A number of events are being held in conjunction with America Recycles Day, including some in Maryland.

“At first, it seems inconvenient. But it’s really just a change in routine,” Wagner said. “Once you change that routine, it doesn’t seem to be inconvenient anymore.”