There Should be a P.T.S.D. category for Recycling

I was at a birthday party this weekend and was about to throw away a paper plate and a plastic fork.  I opened the cabinet under the sink and asked if it was trash or recycling.  I was told it was trash.  I looked at the items in my hand and couldn't decide if it was trash or recycling so I ended up putting it into the trash.  Immediately realizing I should have put the plastic fork in the recycling and the paper plate into the trash.

This might sound a bit boring, but as I was thinking about which item was to go where, I could feel my pulse quickening and my mind racing about what is recyclable and what is not.   I felt as if I was being judged by everyone around me...."Tsk, tsk, what IS she doing?"  This is what I was thinking everyone was thinking about me...I'm sure they weren't.

Living in California does this to me.  Not that we didn't recycle before, but now that we are where recycling is mandatory and it's completely frowned upon if you don't, I get stage fright when I walk up to a trash can.  Am I putting things in the rights spot, will they separate it for me, is this lid recyclable, should I rinse every last spec of food/lotion/peanut butter out of the container before putting it in the bin?  Ahhhhhhhh!

Thank goodness for pictures, or what I like to call, the "How To Guide" on the trash cans/recycling cans.  If it weren't for those, I wouldn't know what to do!  Well, not really, but that is what it feels like.  I'm an intelligent woman, but as soon as I get near a trash receptacle, I become a flippin idiot.  Does anyone else feel like this?

To remedy my PTSD, I should just look on the website to see what is ACTUALLY allowed in the recycling bin and what is not...but, I've got better things to do with my time....like laundry...meh.





This is a picture I took when we were at McDonald's (don't judge - it happens sometimes).  See what I mean?  Even the McDonald's has a "how to" guide.