PACKAGING OVERLOAD

Recently my bill for my trash pickup has surpassed 100 a month. Instead of two trash bins and one recycler, now I have two recycler and one trash bin....and it's more expensive. I can't help but notice that even though I am not a shopper, that my recycling bin is busting at the seems before the end of the week; and more so than ever before. What the heck is going on? I watched how it happened last weekend: on Saturday I ran some errands, needing groceries for a dinner I was hosting and some drinking glasses to replace the ones that had broken. As I began to put my things away, I unwrapped a piece of paper around each glass, at least 10 plastic bags, a box, the salad was in a plastic box, the wine in another box; by the time dinner was ready my little in home recylcing box was completely full again. It's unbelievable. People are packaging nuts these days. It's out of control. All I can hope for is that the recycling is really being recylced and I am giving something back. I hate this consumerism, but it's the world we live in today.