I remember when recycling first went nationwide.

I was incredibly excited that we could now do something with all this stuff besides throwing it out. Several years later, the programs expanded to include many items for our daily usage. We were finally doing the right thing!

Even the big corporations were on board, and I felt relieved and inspired. We made noise, and they responded. But did they?

Here’s where it gets messy and downright frustrating. We should have known if the multinational corporations were involved, it had to be a scam. It was and is.

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Huge corporations realized if they didn’t choose to promote and market recycling for their products, the push for environmental action would’ve crippled their revenue. Now, we have a broken system where the majority of plastic that is recycled doesn’t actually get recycled, and about 30 percent of glass and metal don’t get recycled either; they end up in landfills and out in the ocean. The United States sends most of its recycling to other countries for processing.

This means that all of the materials needed to make plastic, metal, and glass fly all over the world to a factory that makes bottles and cans. Then, they are flown or driven to where they are filled for consumer consumption. Consumers use them and then recycle them again. They go to the transfer station, then the regional center, and then some other country to recycle.

We’ve been scammed!

Recycling is possibly the worst individual/consumer contribution to climate change.

What can we do about it?

We can immediately cease purchasing soda, sparkling drinks, beer, wine, liquor, coffee, and tea in single-use to-go cups!

None of these products are necessary to live a well-lived life. One could argue that they are the obstacle to living a well-lived life, but that’s a different conversation and a different problem. If you notice on recycling day in your neighborhood, you will predominantly see cans and bottles of soda, sparkling drinks, beer, wine, and liquor. Not one of these has a supplemental or nutritional value.

If all eight billion people ceased to purchase these products, there would be an almost instantaneous shift in our environmental well-being.

If you need your coffee or tea throughout the day, make it in the morning and carry a thermos.

Can’t imagine living without beer or wine? Make it yourself in reusable containers.

That brings us to bottled water.

For those of you who buy bottled water because of the chemicals that are included in tap water, I invite you to buy a water filter system. (I recommend Kangen.) They are super expensive, but in two years, you will recoup that investment by not buying bottled water anymore. There is no reason to buy bottled water—unless you are traveling to an unsafe area for drinking water, or you’re going to be traveling several days through the desert and want to make sure that you’re safe, or in similar situations.

If you claim to care about the environment, posting on Facebook and judging political party leaders and corporations are great. Now, choose to care for Mother Earth and the humans and animals who live there, including yourself.

Suppose you do not think you can discontinue the use of these products. In that case, I am offering support to anybody who wants to do so, with the agreement that you will need to follow the recommendations I give you. Just comment below.

Let’s collectively boycott all of these products and the f*cking scam that is recycling. Major corporations have brainwashed all of us into using these products because we can “recycle” the containers, knowing that recycling is worse than the original creation of the containers.

I know there’s going to be somebody who says, “Yeah, but how am I going to be able to buy beans and olive oil and orange juice and milk?” Stop it. You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about consumer use of products that we don’t need and have no nutritional value.

We’ve been sold that recycling justifies the use of these products. We’ve been scammed. Now you know better.