Recycling 101
Recycling is important to preserve the environment and to leave the planet in a better condition than we found it.
Did you know that the average American throws away four pounds of trash daily? That is more than 1.5 tons of waste per person per year. Multiply that by 6 billion people and you know we have a major problem with waste.
What Is Recycling?
Recycling is how we take trash and transform it into new products. There are several types of recycling processes that allow some materials to be used one or more times. Recycling is good for us and the environment because it reduces the use of new raw materials to product new products. It also reduces the energy we use, improves the quality of air and water, and fights climate change.
All sorts of things can be recycled. Some of the most common processes used today recycle:
Plastics
Glass
Metals
Electronics
Computers and accessories
Textiles
Newspapers and magazines
Cardboard
Soda cans, plastic water bottles, plastic milk cartons, newspapers, cereal boxes and old computers are just some of the common items that are recycled every day. If all of us were to recycle just a few items per day that we throw away, we can go a long way to improving the environment for our futures and future generations.
What Is Reusing?
Just as we learn the importance of recycling, we also should learn about reusing. Reusing means combining reusing materials and using items that can be reused. For example, paper plates cannot be reused, and reusable cutlery lowers the energy that is needed to make new products, and it also can be reused to prevent more waste in the landfill. Reusing things that can be reused means less pollution and more of our precious natural resources are left intact.
Think about the possibilities of a product before you throw it away; it could be reused for another purpose. How about that old t-shirt? It could b used as a car rag. Reuse is different from recycling, but it does lead to reduced consumption – always a good thing.
What Is Reducing?
Another important thing to learn, in addition to recycling and reusing, is reducing. Keeping our new purchases to a minimum is a way to reduce our use of natural resources. Reducing consumption of physical objects is important, as is reducing our use of electricity, water and gas to make new products. Reducing means to lower usage from the very start.
Cutting back on purchases you do not really need lowers the use of materials and also lowers energy waste through gas and transportation costs. Reducing also can apply in other areas of life. Carpool, bike or use public transportation when possible. Take shorter showers and ask your parents to replace old appliances with Energy Star ones.
Recycling By The Numbers
Below are some important facts about recycling:
If you lined up the plastic bottles tossed away each year, they would circle our planet four times.
Energy saved from recycling a glass bottle can light a light bulb as long as four hours.
People have been recycling their trash for thousands of years; ancient civilizations would melt down old metal products such as knives and swords and various metal household items to make coins and other new items.
75% of garbage is recyclable but we only recycle 30% in the US.
The typical American uses 17 trees each year in wood and paper products. Many of those products can be recycled.
We toss away enough paper and wood annually to heat 50,000 homes for two decades.
The typical American gets 500 pieces of junk mail annually. Most of this is simply thrown away. It takes millions of trees to produce all that junk mail.
Recycle plastic bags by reusing them when you are at the grocery store or bring reusable cloth bags with you.
Glass can be recycled many times.
A single aluminum can will sit in a landfill for at least 500 years. All aluminum cans may be recycled.
17 million barrels of oil are used to produce the plastic water bottles consumed in the United States each year.