This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. That's pretty amazing. I know this year I've personally really taken more of an involvement in recycling, not just at home but also at work. Our company is so committed to going green, that each department has come up with fun ways to recycle and be gentle to the earth. I just wish we would have all started sooner!
1. The average American uses 650 pounds of paper each year – 100 million tons of wood could be saved each year if all that paper was recycled. (good reason to get an eReader!)
2. Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
3. A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers that can all be recycled!
4. About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%.
5. Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper (think: Empire State Building), but all of these jars are recyclable!
6. Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures a year! Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's twice the size of Texas and is floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. It's also 80 percent plastic, and weighs in at 3.5 million tons.
7. Recycling one ton (about 2,000 pounds) of paper saves 17 trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for six months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of pollution.
8. The 17 trees saved by recycling one ton of paper can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air each year.
9. If all of our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year! If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees each year.
10. More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. Believe it not, ALL that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it so most it goes in the trash!
11. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In spite of this, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months!
What are some of your helpful tips on recycling?
Labels: Earth Day
posted by Stacy~ at 4/22/2010 06:54:00 AM
I guess my number one tip is to put those reusable tote bags back in my car so I will always have them handy whenever I go shopping and can use those instead or plastic or paper.
byRemove yourself from junk mail lists
byplant one tree this week.
Carry a reusable container to take meals ro work or leave them in car to pick up takeout. Sytorfoam is so bad.
Consolidate trips out. I buy stamps at the library when I get DVD's. One less place to drive.
I'm not as good with recycling as I should be, but I'm doing better. Really wish Nashville was a little more recycle friendly. Homes are able to have free recycling, but they won't pick up from businesses, even when you are right next to a home.
byWish I could say my ereader has helped me buy fewer paper books, but still love the feel of a book in my hand.
I have a compost pile in my backyard where I compost kitchen and yard waste. I've been doing it for at least ten years and it's so easy. We also recycle all paper products.. from junk mail to cereal boxes to kids homework... even paper napkins unless they are extremely soiled. I even convinced my garbage hauler to charge me less because I compost and recycle and typically produce half as much garbage as my neighbors. Pretty cool, huh?
byI also don't buy or use plastic water bottles anymore. Even though I always recycled them, if I use an aluminum one that lasts even longer, energy won't be spent recycling and manufacturing and shipping new water bottles to the grocery stores all over again.
I've also been using canvas type bags for my groceries for about two years now. I love them.
1. The average American uses 650 pounds of paper----------- (good reason to get an eReader!)
byAnd what about the batteries and ereader when it goes to the landfill.
I recycle and plant numerous trees and bushes every year. Plus we allow about 40 acres to stay in wood growth at all times. Only cutting to keep manageable and dead stuff removed.
I try and recycle as much as possible...and I take shopping bags to the supermarket.
by