it's so weird that our little town doesn't offer recycling on our street.

A lot of places don't even recycle the recycling. The idea of recycling is great but in practice it's pretty much a shit show. Not enough places doing it, not enough facilities to handle the different materials, not enough money in it to motivate corporations to do better.

Soda makers are great

I'd recommend Sparkel to anyone interested: can carbonate anything and uses powders for the process instead of canisters. Get citric acid and baking.... Soda? And mix them in equal parts, boom,.ezpz

It's too late now I suppose for recommendations, but I really like my DrinkMate. Unlike SodaStream you can carbonate any liquid not just water. Comes out better if you premix the concentrate and carbonate all together. Lose too much carbonation otherwise. It's also not a company that directly participates in genocide 👀 so that's definitely better too.

Whatever you got I highly recommend getting a larger, standard tank and adapter. The prices these companies charge for CO2 is absolutely insane. Find a local supplier, dry ice can also work.