Recycling Facts You Should Know About
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Why recycle you ask? The benefits of recycling have a tremendous impact on the planet. Why do we care about the planet? The future of your children and their children are depending on it! With the way the economy has been lately, more and more people have started to recycle. It can be a great way to earn a little extra cash but the economy will eventually get better (hopefully). We as American’s need to continue to recycle not just for monetary reasons but for environmental reasons also. As American’s we produce a lot of waste. We’re the leaders in having a GIANT carbon footprint. It’s outrageous. They’re are plenty of reasons to recycle- know the facts first, then start with the basics and let your recycling imagination take over. Once you learn about all the recyclable’s you can start to manage them and dispose of them properly. Many people think recycling is time consuming. It’s really just another step added into your day- like anything else, once you incorporate it into your daily routine it becomes part of your life. Recycling should be mandatory, especially in places where landfills are at their maximum. I just heard the other day somewhere that Oregonian’s recycle 50% of their waste – good for them! I live in California, and would love to say we’re recycling fools…and top the 50% number…!! Someday maybe.
Every little bit counts- which is why I’m encouraging you to start recycling and making a difference. If you don’t already have a recycling bin provided by your local trash company (not sure how it works in each state) look into getting one. Here in Ca., Waste Management provides us with a bin strictly for recycling. I can’t even begin to tell you how much of what we would’ve considered normal trash goes into the recycling bin- it’s amazing! There isn’t a need for us to put our trash can out every week either. It doesn’t fill up as fast when you’re monitoring what’s trash and what’s recyclable. You’ll soon see that your recycling waste will become the majority of regular trash that was normally being thrown away! On top of that, if you’re composting a lot of your kitchen scraps that would eventually turn into methane gas in landfills (major contributor of Global Warming) become nourishment for your garden or worms if you’re vermicomposting- We’re doing both! One is mainly for food scraps and the other is for lawn and paper- “woody” waste. You can get tips on how to compost here- http://www.composting101.com/composting-tips.html
For now, remember that when you’re recycling you’re cutting back on the amount of waste that would otherwise enter a landfill. The majority of items in a landfill are recyclables…I witnessed this recently, when I took a trip to our local dump! We need to be more eco-conscious of the waste we’re creating and stop the potential toxic chemicals that could enter the Earth. I try my hardest to buy things that are unpackaged and try not to buy plastic or take it from retailers/grocer’s whenever possible. Purchasing less packaged items, especially individually packaged items- means less waste. When I do buy packaged, I purchase items that are favorable to recycle such as glass. Plastic = Chemicals, no good! Unless, it’s BPA free but even then…opt for a more sustainable option. Plus, a lot of the plastic used for packaging does not have a redemption value which means most recycling centers will not take them- but luckily, some do! Which is why it’s important to have the recycling bin through Waste Management or other trash company in your area because all numbers are accepted! There’s no worry.
What should you be recycling and keeping out of landfills!
Any and all…
E-Waste- Batteries, Cell Phones, Computers- E- Waste is a biggie because these items are highly toxic! Car batteries, motor oil and paint too!
Paper, Plastic, Glass, Aluminum, Steel, and Copper
When you think about paper it’s not just the newspaper it’s all the junk mail, phone books, magazines, receipts, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, cardboard boxes, note paper- etc. A great thing to know, too, is that you don’t have to worry about scraping out the peanut butter jar or mayo, just toss right into the recycling bin! Be sure that you keep these separate from your paper items because you don’t want to contaminate a load. I learned this when I did an article for local paper in town about recycling and contacted Waste Management. One big reason why pizza boxes aren’t allowed in the bin. Paper products cannot be recycled when they’ve come into contact with moisture. Remember, deodorant and chopstick containers can be recycled too-and as for razors- Green Daily recently posted on 5 ways to recycle them!! Don’t forget to add aluminum foil or aluminum take out trays to your crate of cans. Soup cans or any canned item can be added to your curbside recycle bin too! Otherwise, find a recycling center near you that accepts it.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours – or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
- An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!
- If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.
- The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees. This amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year!
- Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away ever year in the U.S.
- Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
- A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
- Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.
- About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material
- More than 20,000,000 Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.
- Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
- The US population discards each year 16,000,000,000 diapers, 1,600,000,000 pens, 2,000,000,000 razor blades, 220,000,000 car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the US commercial air fleet four times over. On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year.
REDUCE, RE-USE AND RECYCLE!!!
Cross-posted at www.NewMommyRant.blogspot.com
Around the Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup on Sun, 17th Aug 2008 10:06 am
[...] a fresh perspective on reducing, reusing and recycling at Recycle Your [...]
Audrey on Mon, 18th Aug 2008 1:24 am
Wow. Americans waste so much, it makes me sick. The apartment complex I live in doesn’t even try to recycle. Anything and everything goes into one huge trash compactor. I have been considering calling the office and asking the managers if they could look into a recycling program, and I think this will be my final push. Thank you!
Maria on Wed, 27th Aug 2008 11:45 pm
Great post. Thank you for this information about recylcing. I love your blog.
Things we learned this week « MAKE WEALTH HISTORY on Sat, 24th Jan 2009 9:34 am
[...] to this blog, “More than 20,000,000 Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of [...]
hanifmz on Sun, 25th Jan 2009 5:48 am
Thanks to blogger. I used your entry to do my folio. Thank you so much.
Topics about Recycle » Recycling Facts You Should Know About | Recycle Your Day on Thu, 19th Mar 2009 11:54 pm
[...] La Mama Naturale’ created an interesting post today on Recycling Facts You Should Know About | Recycle Your DayHere’s a short outlineWhy recycle you ask? The benefits of recycling have a tremendous impact on the planet. Why do we care about the planet? The future of your children and. [...]
crazyskates on Wed, 25th Mar 2009 4:03 am
A very good read. Good useful tips for the average person to incorporate into their daily lives. Imagine if we can all do just a little bit more then we are now. Only negative thing to say about this blog is the text is very tiny and would be hard to read if one required glasses. Otherwise, keep on being green.
Nijah on Tue, 13th Oct 2009 2:34 am
Its beyojnd amazing how much the United States as a whole waste so much. Not only are they thowing away things that can easily be recycled but money as well. Most people need to realize how simple something as recycling is.
jessica on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 8:04 am
who is the author of this article?
very good article by the way!
Recycle Your Day » Recycle Your Day America! on Sat, 14th Nov 2009 5:16 am
[...] to save the planet and within our day we do what’s necessary to improve the planet from recycling to wearing your jeans over and over again. It all happens within our day and starts all over again [...]
Goodwill Recycling on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 12:18 pm
Another way of recycling is to donate your used goods to thrift stores such as Goodwill. They accept used products from furniture to appliances, clothing and carpets. Visit the above website to find your local Goodwill and visit the online website.
Recycle on Thu, 31st Dec 2009 5:14 am
we all should recycle
Spur of the moment green act.. going bagless! | Recycle Your Day on Thu, 20th May 2010 5:50 am
[...] never took the leap to stop using them all together until now. Between the composting, worms, and recycling … we don’t have much gunky trash which means it’s mostly dry. Our goal is zero [...]