In our world of mass manufacturing and using disposable items, recycling is the best thing we can do for the environment. Taking your old/ used/ unwanted/ broken waste and converting back into new products. In the end sends less trash to landfills, helps in reducing air and water pollution.

Recycling prevents waste of potentially useful materials, reduces the consumption of raw materials and energy usage, decreases air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from land filling and littering) by decreasing the need for conventional waste disposal. It also decreases greenhouse gas emissions compared to plastic production and land filling.

Waste not recycled is taken by truck to the landfill. A landfill is a giant hole in the ground that is filled with tons and tons of garbage then covered with soil, to just sits there for generations to come.

4 Main Reasons to Recycle:

1. To make environment clean
2. Conservation of materials
3. To save energy
4. Reduce garbage in landfills

Quick Facts:

• The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world’s people generate 40% of the world’s waste.
• About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material!
• Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
• The highest point in Hamilton County, Ohio (near Cincinnati) is “Mount Rumpke.” It is actually a mountain of trash at the Rumpke sanitary landfill towering 1045 ft. above sea level.
• 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.
• Out of every $10 spent buying things, $1 (10%) goes for packaging that is thrown away. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash.
• On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.

Steps in Recycling Materials:

1. Collection and Processing- You can recycle via curbside collection, drop off centers, and deposit or refund programs. After collection, recyclables are sent to a recovery facility to be sorted, cleaned and processed into materials that can be used in manufacturing. Then are sold just like raw materials.
2. Manufacturing- Today more and more products are being manufactured with recycled content.
3. Purchasing new products made from recycled materials- Help close the recycling loop by buying new products made from recycled materials. When you’re shopping look for products that can be easily recycled and products that contain recycled content. Here are a few recycling terms to know:
   • Recycled- content product- A product manufactured with recycled materials, the label with sometimes include how much of the content was from recycled materials. Sourced from recycling program or from waste collected during normal manufacturing process.
   • Post- consumer content- Similar to recycled content, but material comes from recyclables collected from consumers or businesses through a recycling program.
   • Recyclable product- Products that can be recycled.

Sources:

• Mecklenburg County Land Use and Environmental Service Agency // mecknc.gov/LUESA
• United States Environmental Protection Agency // epa.gov
• University of Southern Indiana // usi.edu/recycle/
• Recycle Across America // recycleacrossamerica.org
• Conserve Energy Future // conserve-energy-future.com/

Stay tuned…. This I only PART ONE in my series on Recycling!

Read PART TWO “How to recycle at home” here.

**photo by: Conserve Energy Future