Rome Was Not Recycled in a Day

What can you do with a couple hundred thousand dollars of bullet-resistant glass and a couple million pairs of earbuds? Sounds like the setup for a joke! Keith and Mollie don’t have the punchline yet, but their guest on this episode might. No joking, though, Keith and Mollie are joined by Damon Carson, president of Repurposed Materials, a company that fits great with this podcast. The company not only helps organizations keep items they no longer need out of the landfill. They take it a step further by helping to find new homes for those items… some of which result in some pretty creative reuses. Best of all, you — yes, you — can join the circle of reuse by purchasing from Repurposed Materials. Get ready to get your creativity flowing as you check out this interview. And if you have your own creative reuse stories, make sure to let us know with our contact form.

If you’re a regular listener, or maybe even if you aren’t, you’ve figured out that Mollie and Keith have a favorite of the three R words: reuse! This episode takes reuse to a whole new level. Adding a touch of culture to the show, Keith and Mollie are joined by Birmingham artist Paul Cordes Wilm. Check out the episode to learn how he shows love for the environment in his work and where you can see some of his awesome creations. Want more? Check out Paul’s website. And if you’re dying to have some of his art hanging on your own wall, reach out to him on Instagram, or look for him at events like the Monster Market at Saturn Birmingham.

What in Homewood is going on? While that might have been a good title for this episode, the one we picked is what it’s all about. If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, or even if you’re not, you probably know about the challenges of recycling these days. That’s true everywhere, but we’re especially talking about here in Homewood, AL. To sort out the recycling situation, Keith and Mollie are joined by a repeat guest, but one with a new title since the last time she visited. Mayor Jennifer Andress tells us about her adjustments to being mayor as well as some of the changes in Homewood, both recycling related and otherwise. Check it out to learn what in Homewood in going on. Got feedback for the city’s future planning efforts? Follow the mayor’s advice and share it on the Connect Homewood website. Keith and Mollie would love to hear your thoughts, too. Why not drop them a line on their contact page while you’re at it?

Sometimes the simple act of recycling has much more impact than we know. That’s exactly what we explore on this episode. Get ready to get inspired with Keith and Mollie as they’re joined by Lisa and Michelle from Community on the Rise, a Birmingham organization that not only recovers #5 plastics but also helps people to recover their lives. Their stories will make you think twice before throwing away #5 plastics that the workers at Community on the Rise turn into beautifully crafted pieces of jewelry like the ones you see pictured here with Lisa. Check it out, and make sure to visit Community on the Rise’s website for ways to get involved. And if you’re inspired by today’s show and want more, we’ve got you covered.

With this episode, we’re participating in the fourth annual Podcasthon. Thousands of podcasts around the world will dedicate one episode of their show to a charity of their choice and will release these episodes simultaneously, in a coordinated effort, mid-March 2026 creating a massive and international wave of inspiring audio content.

If you’re like Keith, you’ve found yourself standing in the checkout line at the grocery store more than once when you realized you forgot your reusable bags… again! Now, you’re taking home those plastic grocery bags that can’t be curbside recycled, and you have to remember to bring them back to the store to recycle next time which, well… if you could remember that, you wouldn’t have forgotten your reusable bags in the first place, right? The real Problem is that hard-to-get-rid-of flexible plastic. And look around next time you’re at the store: it goes a lot further than plastic grocery bags. On this episode, Keith and Mollie are once again joined by their friend Meredith to learn how somebody’s finally doing something about this problem! No, Meredith’s not calling Keith to remind him to bring his reusable bags, although that certainly wouldn’t hurt. Tune in to learn about the Flexible Film Recycling Alliance, an industry-wide group working to find ways to keep this stuff out of the landfills. Meredith inspires Keith and Mollie to think about what they buy as well as what they recycle to do their part in dealing with flexible films, and we hope she’ll inspire you, too. As always, we’d love to hear your own ideas on our contact form.

The holidays are nearly upon us! That means time for shopping, wrapping, decorating, and of course wading through stacks of Amazon boxes and packing materials trying to figure out where you left the scissors and tape. Happy holidays! While Keith and Mollie can’t help you with your annual holiday tradition of hunting for the scissors, they’re super excited about their own newest holiday tradition. Welcome to the first annual Green Gift Guide! Settle in with that mug of hot chocolate while Mollie helps you find ways to be good to the environment. We hope this episode inspires you to make this a reusable holiday. Hey, if it’s reusable enough, we might even have a second annual Green Gift Guide next year! And if you have your own suggestions for environmentally friendly giving, why not share them on our contact form? After all, it’s the season of sharing, right?

Decomposing food is kind of gross, right? If that thought brings on the “ick factor” then this episode might just be for you. Throwing away food scraps is the easy route, but what happens to that banana peel when you throw it in the garbage? How about that chicken bone or that container of Chinese food that sadly went bad before you could eat it? In the landfill, not a whole lot! So, what’s the environmentally friendly way to deal with those things? On this episode, Keith and Mollie dig into food scraps. No, not literally! They’re joined by Scott Smithline from Mill to learn about the amazing world of food scrap recycling. How does it work? What can go in, and what comes out? And how can you give that banana peel a better existence than decades in the landfill? Give this episode a listen to find out. And if you’d like to learn more afterwards, check out the US Composting Council page on Food Scrap Dehydrators, Scott’s post to the Mill blog on what food recyclers do, and facts about food waste from ReFED. Hungry for seconds? Learn what Mill says about the many uses for food grounds and their plans to expand beyond home kitchens. And if you have your own stories about food scrap recycling or overcoming the “ick factor”, we’d love to hear from you.

If it’s on the grocery store package, it must be true, right? Well, maybe! On this episode, Keith and Mollie dive into the murky waters of greenwashing! Yeah, that’s a scary word! Environmentally friendly, recyclable, low carbon impact… Sounds great! But are those things really as they seem, or are they just marketing propaganda? Our friend Meredith joins the show once again to help us make sense of all of this. Tune into learn how to do what’s best for the environment instead of letting that grocery store package decide for you. And if you have suggestions to add, don’t forget to send us a comment.

Glass is a pain! No, really! We’ve talked about that before here in Rome. On this episode, Keith and Mollie talk to someone who has decided to do something about it. Moriah Fordham is the owner of Phoenix Glass Recycling, bringing glass recycling to Huntsville, AL and the surrounding county. Even if you don’t live in Huntsville — not everyone can be a rocket scientist — you can learn a lot by listening to the interview with Moriah. She’s an entrepreneur who cares about the environment and wants to fill a much needed spot in the recycling world. Her company is a member of 1% for the Planet, the Glass Recycling Coalition, and the Alabama Recycling Coalition. But Moriah has a lot more to share than just a business with memberships. She’s got great ideas for keeping glass out of the landfill, whether you have a glass recycling program in your neighborhood or not. And if you’re still looking for more, learn about what really happens to recycled glass and what recycled glass can be turned into after it leaves the bin. Oh, and check out the new bigger glass crusher that Phoenix Glass Recycling has ordered. We’re pretty sure Mollie’s hoping Santa brings her one of these, too. And if you have glass recycling or reusing ideas of your own, make sure to add a comment below. This episode might not make glass recycling crystal clear, but we sure hope it at least manages to break the glass!

You’ve heard of recycling, and you’ve possibly even heard about upcycling, but have you tried funcycling? On this episode, Keith and Mollie dive into how to make recycling more fun! Yes, it’s really true. You actually can take good care of the environment and have fun at the same time. To help figure this out, return guest, funny man, and birthday boy Ben joins this episode with his own jokes, ideas, and, well… you’ll just have to listen to find out. And after you take in these ideas as a starting point, why not share a few of your own? Let us know how you make the task of recycling more fun by leaving a comment! Or at the least save us with some better jokes!