recycle already

Today was a very challenging day.  It was a snow day for the kids and since it was Wednesday it was  my clean and do laundry day.  Clean and kids don't really mix well so it was very limited cleaning, bathrooms really.  But that is not the point, the point is recycling.
It is 2014 people why are you recycling?
We go for walks a lot, especially in the evening.  The night before trash day is not always the best night to walk especially in the summer when things can kind of get stinky, but I digress.  I hate seeing cardboard boxes sitting out by the curb to be picked up by the trash men. 
In our fair city, the government is too cheap to pay for curbside recycling service so you have to have pay for the service from a private company or take your recycling to a drop-off center.  I should note there is a drop off center about 1 mile away from our neighborhood, no turns other than turning in the parking lot, and it is next to the grocery store so it is not totally inconvenient.
It just saddens me to see how much paper and sometimes plastic gets thrown away when it can be recycled.  People are obsessed with their health and the food they put in their bodies, why don't they care about what they put in the Earth or at least under its soil.  Why throw something away when we are recycle it and not have to cut down as many trees?  What good is it to care about your health if you won't care about the planet, you could live to 100, but if the Earth is overrun with garbage what good is it to last that long?  It's 2014, how can reduce, reuse, recycle still not be commonplace?  It also upsets me not only to see recyclable paper, but stuff that could be donated that someone else could use.  Yes, I have picked through garbage and found good finds in some one's trash, a plastic little tikes slide and Lily's princess bicycle just off the top of my head. 
I guess the bottom line is that some people are selfish and lazy.  They don't care about the environment and what it will be like for our children and it is too much effort to do good that might not necessarily benefit you.
I am turning into a hippie everyday, it is kind of scary, but at the same time good, I am making the world a better place, every mile walked instead of driven, every bottle recycled, and every light switched turned off.