Anti-recycler wants respect from partner on trash world view

Carolyn Hax

Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: My partner and I are planning to move in together. I don’t recycle, but he does and insists that I do it, too, once we are sharing a home. We can’t seem to resolve this! Please advise.

Stuck Dear Stuck: Recycle your freaking stuff.

Carolyn: That answer is not helpful! I was hoping for something thoughtful and practical. We have a lifestyle issue and need help resolving it, please. I respect his decision to recycle, but he’s not respectful of my beliefs. What if he were insisting I vote a certain way? Or not practice a religion?

Stuck again Dear Stuck Again: I’m not respectful of your beliefs, either. “Erf the environment!”?

Recycle any reusable resources. Be mindful of the impact of waste. These are both thoughtful and practical. Voting and religion are apples and oranges.

Re: Apples and oranges: You can compost those, you know.

Anonymous

Dear Anonymous: Nice.

Re: Recycling:

He is not asking you for the world, he’s asking you to chuck recyclables in a different bin. I would LOVE to hear why you are so against it that you’re THIS close to blowing up a relationship over it.

Re: Recycling:

Curious

What if “recycling” means he wants to date an ex? Kids these days!

Also Curious Dear Also Curious: Omg.

Re: Recycling: At the risk of giving advice: SO many issues arise when you begin cohabiting with a partner. Big things. Medium-size things. Little things. IMHO, this falls into the last category. You MUST learn to be flexible to make this new partnership work. My husband is paraplegic. We recycled for many years. Now as hub’s only caregiver, I just don’t have the bandwidth and stopped recycling, and minimize my carbon footprint in other ways. Point being, there ARE sometimes extenuating circumstances. For now, try to let some of the righteous indignation go and save the groundstanding for issues like voting and religion. Believe me, those will come up, too.

Experienced Dear Experienced: “At the risk of giving advice” — love it. Just to cross all the t’s: Recycling can be complicated, which I got blasted for last time I wrote this. Jurisdictions handle it differently, not everything goes where it’s supposed to, the resale market has collapsed for some things. But, but — any resource saved is a plus; and the problems are often on the user end, so being conscientious actually matters; and for me, at least, the extra second to choose a different bin is a constant reminder to use nonrenewable resources sparingly. It’s more than just what ends up where.

Re: Recycling: “Stuck” mentioned “beliefs.” Perhaps we should hear what they are.