I got married and moved to Detroit, Michigan to live with my new husband.  
Much to my dismay, this place seems geared towards a throw away mindset!  
Back home, we recycled everything from paper to plastic shopping bags.  (I'm
from Texas, by the way.)  This focus on cleanliness, reuse/recycle/renew, was
encouraged and easy!  

Up here, I can't believe how difficult it's been to recycle.  The last straw 
came when we moved into a house and discovered that every
month a giant crane comes by and picks up refuse to crush into a giant truck
to be carted off to the local landfill.  This sort of thing makes it
too easy to just throw things away that could be reused.  My neighbor, for 
example, stood calmly by as this machine chewed up a perfectly good picnic
table she just didn't want any longer.

What can I do?  How can I get something started here?  I feel so overwhelmed
by this dirty city and its total lack of involvement.