1. Make it a Goal
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently adopted a goal to reduce the amount of garbage we annually dispose by 70% by the year 2010.
2. Keep It On The Rise
According to the EPA in 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32.5 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
3. Don’t Be afraid to Comingle
While recycling has grown in general, recycling of specific materials has grown even more drastically based on the ability to comingle. When indicated, comingled recycling allows you to mix: Clean paper and mail, newspaper and advertising, phonebooks, magazines and catalogs, flattened cardboard (limit 3’x 3’), paper food boxes (liner removed), frozen food boxes, milk cartons and juice boxes, plastic bottles and jugs (no lids or caps), and aluminum, tin or steel cans
4. It Makes Financial $en$e
According to The U.S. Recycling Economic Information Study, more than 56,000 recycling and reuse establishments in theUnited States employ approximately 1.1 million people, generate an annual payroll of $37 billion, and gross $236 billion in annual revenues.
5. Recycled Materials vs. Virgin Materials
Using newspaper as an example we get, 60% energy savings and, + 95% less air pollution when we use recycled instead of virgin paper. Each ton of recycled paper used saves 60 lbs. of air pollution,* and recycling of each ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water.** *(Center for Ecological Technology) **(EPA)
6. No More Water Bottles
The amount of oil needed to make those bottles equals about 15 million barrels a year, or enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year, according to the Earth Policy Institute. Oh yeah, and it takes approximately 1,000 years to decompose…
7. Think Twice About That Cup o’Joe
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters recently estimated that last year Americans used 14.4 billion hot paper cups (placed end-to-end, this many cups would circle the world 55 times) *(Greenbiz)
8. Stop The Junk
Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail; 250,000 homes could be heated with one day’s supply of junk mail; Americans receive almost 4 millions tons of junk mail every year.
*(EPA Ohio, Office of Compliance Assistance & Pollution Prevention)
9. Cell Phones
According to Inform Inc. in 1985 there were only 500,000 million cell phones; today there are over 233 million. With a life span of 1.5 years many are thrown in the trash and cell phones contain hazardous materials. They can be recycled!
10. Computers
New generations of computers and electronics are creating mountains of eWaste. Buy wisely. Recycle eWaste.
