No one produces more trash than the US, where 5% of the world’s people generate 40% of the world’s trash.
By recycling, every person can contribute in a positive way to reversing the deleterious effects that twentieth century innovations have had on our planet. Plastic bottles are thought to decompose in 300-500 years, aluminum cans 200-500 years, plastic bags 30-60 years, glass bottles 1 million years and Styrofoam, never. Rather than burying these recyclable items in a landfill, something new can be made from them. Better yet, avoid using them in the first place. Purchase a reusable water bottle and fill it each day from your kitchen sink rather than buying water in bottles. Instead of using single use plastic storage bags for food, use glass jars or reusable plastic food storage containers. Instead of purchasing prepackaged vegetables in a foam tray covered with clear plastic wrap, purchase loose vegetables in a plastic bag and reuse the bag. Take canvas shopping bags with you when you shop rather than having your merchandise packed in plastic or paper bags.
What does recycling save?
Making new aluminum cans from used cans takes 95 percent less energy and 20 recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce one can using virgin ore.
Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power your television for three hours or to run a 100-watt light bulb for almost four hours
According to the EPA, the amount of plastics generation in the municipal waste stream has increased from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 12.1 percent in 2007.
There are many items that can be made from recycled plastics. These items include garbage cans, picnic tables, fiber-fill for vests and jackets, traffic cones and many others
Each year, 89 BILLION plastic bags are used.
When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved. A barrel of oil weighs 306 pounds, so that’s 3,366 pounds (1.6 tons) of oil.
Plastic bags photodegrade, meaning they slowly break down into smaller and smaller bits that can contaminate soils and waterways.
Plastic bags made from recycled polythene rather than virgin materials save two thirds of the energy required for production and reduce the water used by almost 90%
44 million newspapers are thrown away every day in the United States. This is like throwing 500,000 trees into a landfill each week
Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil and 7000 gallons of water
We can save more space in our landfills by recycling paper products than any other materials and each piece of paper can be recycled up to five times before the fibers become too weak
Making a glass container from a recycled container creates about 20% less air pollution, 50% less water pollution and uses only about half the energy of making it from virgin materials.
Recycling a single glass bottle can save enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours.
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