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I just can’t talk enough about the importance of recycling. Recycling is the number one thing we can do to improve our communities. Now, if you read this and think, well this is just Mrs. McGreen’s opinion, you are wrong. Let me give you some hard
FACTS!
There are over 80 billion soda cans used each year. Yes, that’s billion. Yes, that’s just soda! Can you see the importance of recycling aluminum? The good thing about recycling aluminum is that it can be recycled an unlimited amount of times, and a recycled can, even 200 years from now, can still be a can. Yes, it can! If you drink a can of soda a day and then tossed it in the recycling bin, that one (aluminum) can saves enough energy to watch television for 3 hours! Of course, you’d save even more energy if you went out for a walk or read a good (used!) book instead.
If we were to save all the wood and paper that we toss into the trash each year, the combined amount would be enough to heat 50 million homes for up to 20 years.
The soda cans mentioned above were a pretty high number, right? Well, just in the USA alone, over 25 million beverage bottles made of plastic are thrown away every hour!
There are approximately 41 billion glass containers manufactured every year but if we all recycled we would never have to create a bottle from raw materials again because, like aluminum, glass can be reused an unlimited amount of times.
If we were to wait for a plastic or glass bottle or a tin can to decompose after throwing it away today, we would have to wait approximately 4000 years.
A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water. Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.
To find out more of what to recycle and where visit http://earth911.com and start recycling today!
Notions
I think we all have some preconceived notions of what can and can’t be recycled, so I’ve gone a head and done some research to find out the truth. One of the first things I discovered when I began recycling was the amount of paper, cardboard and plastic that comes from the packaging around the different products we buy. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash. For example yesterday I bought some floss, in order to get to the floss I had to dissect a piece of plastic from a piece of cardboard. Both of which can be recycled. Then I got the mail and it was full of paper, I didn’t want or need. I threw it right in the recycle bin.
Virtually everything made of plastic should be marked with a code. Not all types can actually be recycled. Types 1 and 2 are widely accepted in container form, and type 4 is sometimes accepted in bag form. Code 7 is for mixed or layered plastic with little recycling potential. You should place in your bin only those types of plastic listed by your local recycling agency! but to make things easy look for products with that little #1 or #2 on the bottom. Plastic bottle caps are usually made out of a different type of plastic, so take the lids off and keep them separate. Even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin a melt.
Tin cans, such as fruit and vegetable tins are recyclable with soda cans. Also those pickle jar lids and beer bottle lids are made of guess what aluminum, just throw them in with the soda cans and put the jars and bottles in the glass recycle bin and don’t forget about the little Hershey kiss wrappers, I know they’re small, but they’re aluminum too.
There is no need to remove labels or bands from cans and bottles. Clean only enough to prevent odors.
Once I separate all my recyclables, what’s left you ask…food scrap mostly, which I use most of in my compost pile. Then I usually have a few #5 plastics, that pesky floss container I mentioned earlier is a #5, and a few sprigs of soiled paper products. I was told never to put dirty napkins, wet newspaper and other stained paper products in the recycle bin so I don’t and you shouldn’t either. My weekly trash bin only gets about a quarter of the way full. A great relief for the environment!
There’s a lot more information out there simply visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/rrr/recycle.htm
Make recycling a family project an office project or a school project!
Start a tradition….Recycling is a great way to involve the whole family, office or school in a joint project that can save you time and money and is also good for the environment. Making recycling a part of your way of life not only helps your budget and your community, but it also instills these same values in the next generation creating good earth stewards for the future. Make recycling a tradition!
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Ladybug McGreen's Blog 
