The moto goes: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In that order. It's very important. Recycling is the last line of defence. The lowest form of helping the environment. The most expensive. The least helpful.
I'm not saying that you should give up on recycling, it's just that you should look what goes into the bin, and try to stop it from going in there in the first place. You should really really really focus on "reducing". For those few things that you still have to buy, you should focus on reuse. Putting the item into the recycling bin doesn't save you or the environment, as much of the recycling still ends up in a landfill.