Now, I’ll admit I’ve never been a crunchy, tree-hugger, Sierra Club environmentalist type. Everybody has their social cause they support more than any of the others, and mine has never really been protecting the environment, though I believe it’s important.

Therefore, although I was brought up recycling, I never knew too much about how it worked before I started doing a series of stories for the paper about TFC Recycling, which is trying to recruit 3,000 Suffolk households to pay $12 per month for curbside recycling. Of course, I knew it goes in an old aluminum can and comes out a brand new can, but I didn’t know, for example, that a used soda container can be back on the shelf as a new can in as few as 60 days after being taken the recycling center. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.

During the past few weeks, I’ve done several stories on people who signed on for the recycling. Michelle Frickanisce said she signed up for the recycling program to teach her children that it is the right thing to do. With six children, she said, she feels that they should do their part to keep their waste to a minimum.

Also, I interviewed Katey and Matt Brooks. They were both brought up recycling, and now have a large dog and a 10-month-old son, meaning lots of dog food cans and glass baby food jars to recycle.

I also interviewed Brenda Ramsey, who said she recycles because it is “the right thing to do.”

All these people have gotten on board with TFC Recycling, and I’m sure they’d love it if everyone else did, too. It costs $12 a month, which may seem steep. But, as Ramsey pointed out, we all pay for a lot of other things we probably don’t need.

You can sign up at www.tfcrecycling.com/suffolk.