The statistics on Recycling Away from Home (RAH) are nothing to cheer about. Neither were the Chicago Cubs, or the stadium they played in, last night. We went to our first Phillies game in the new Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The ballpark was built in 2004 after the old Veterans Stadium was demolished. I was impressed by the size, architecture, number of restaurants and seating layout but was depressed to see not one recycling bin. Not one. And this is a brand, spanking new stadium. I should have taken a picture of the aftermath of the game. (It looked a little like the picture to the left!) Bottles and cans EVERYWHERE. I'll bet with almost 100% certainty that we were the only family who took our bottles, cans and score cards home to recycle.

According to an MSNBC article, bottled water which is mostly consumed away from home, has about a 12% recycling rate. (The picture is from that article.) I can't believe it's that high. I rarely see a recycling bin at parks, parties, restaurants, stores and schools, and when there are bins, they're not always used. We had a street party in front of our office 2 weeks ago and we put a clearly marked, open topped recycling bin right next to our closed lid garbage can. My husband, God bless him, pulled about 50 cans and bottles from the garbage can.

Along those same lines, we recently attended a family birthday party where a giant recycling bin was located next to a giant garbage can. I was so annoyed to watch the 13-year-olds (and adults) throw food in the bin and cans in the can. And this was after I made a little "announcement" to the group about where to put what. (Can these kids read?) Even more shocking was watching a guest from California (no surprise there) actually reach into the muck and MOVE THE CANS INTO THE BIN AND THE GARBAGE INTO THE CAN. I almost fainted.