the impact of not recycling

5 Feb
2010

what will happen if we don’t recycle?

The impact of not recycling has the earth in a bit of trouble. Our levels of consumption create vast amounts of waste. The waste produced in the last half century is greater than the total of all years combined!

  1. cans
    • it takes about 90 days to complete the recycle process from garbage back to the shelf
    • it takes over 500 years for a can to decompose
  2. steel
    • just one pound of recycled steel saves one day of a single light bulb worth of energy
    • the world has enough  “old” steel to have a sustainable supply – if we recycled
  3. paper
    • 70 to 90% less energy is required to recycle paper
    • it also produces over 70% less pollutants
    • paper makes up almost 50% of landfill ingredients
    • if 1 million people stopped their junk mail we could save 1.5 million trees
  4. glass
    • recycling just one glass jar provides enough energy for 4 hours of  a lightbulb
    • it also saves 9 gallons of oil
    • recycling glass reduces air pollution by 20% & water pollution by 50%
  5. plastic
    • plastic takes over 500 years to decompose
    • every hour (in the USA) 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown in the garbage
  6. general facts
    • 60% of the contents in the average household garbage container can be recycled
    • items in landfill generally do not decompose because they lack oxygen

discover what and where to recycle

There are programs for just about everything. When your municipality doesn’t offer a program sometimes the manufacturer does. If you want an easy way to find a recycling center go to earth911 and look it up by location or product.

what can you do to minimize your impact?

Well before you get to the recycle part of the equation try thinking about the other parts of the 3Rs:

  1. Ask these questions to reduce your consumption
  2. Make these changes for the biggest impact of waste reduction
  3. Think of creative ways to reuse anything that you have
  4. Find a new home for it instead of throwing it out
  5. Stretch the life of everything and save money by repairing stuff

I hope you found the series on the 3Rs informative and refreshing. Maybe I reminded you of some simple things you can do that will make a big change. Maybe I inspired you to discover creative ways to reuse items. At the very least, I hope I encouraged you to make some simple changes and share them with your friends and community.

Continuing on our weekly themes for 2010, next week I will take a look at packaging – the main contributor to waste, landfill and toxins we create.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

7 reasons to recycle

2 Feb
2010

Okay, we are going to finish up our discussion on the basics of consumption this week. The theme is the final R or Recycle. We all know about recycling and most places now have some kind of a program and policies in place for both residential, commercial and manufacturers.

understand the reasons to recycle

Why should we recycle? Often it feels like a burden to recycle. Understanding the reasons why often elude us.

  1. limited supply - with an increasing population more waste is being created
  2. extreme demand - consumptive society demands more materials and creates more waste
  3. conservation - to minimize the impact of harvesting raw materials and destroying habitat of limited natural resources
  4. energy reduction – recycling uses less energy than the manufacturing of a raw material and therefore reduces carbon emissions (CO2)
  5. pollution – reduced pollution from waste and manufacturing reduces climate change and toxin exposure
  6. landfill - the more we recycle, the more we keep from landfill and incinerators saving the environment from toxins leaching into our eco-systems and methane gas escaping into the atmosphere (which is more potent than carbon monoxide)
  7. money - recycling saves us valuable dollars by producing materials for less

Not having a program in place is all the more reason to reconsider what you should buy? It is also a good time to petition your government, change how you reuse and dispose of items, stretch your item for a little longer, repair it and find creative ways to keep it out of the landfill.

In our next article we will take a quick look at the impact of our waste with some amazing (and frightening) facts. Then we will explore how to make sure we optimize our recycling efforts. After all it’s your planet too.

stretch your money and repair things

29 Jan
2010

In our throwaway society, we forget about items when they break. We used to take the time to fix things but now time is so valuable with long commutes, workdays and busy social schedules. We earn more and when something breaks we replace it.

Many of you probably remember your mother or grandmother darning your socks. Items were made to last – quality lasts though it usually costs more, so when an item broke it was important to stretch the value. Why not take on that mentality again?

Sometimes it just might be time but someone else would probably be willing to repair it. Instead of just throwing it out find someone that is willing to take your broken items and fix it. Don’t just throw it in the garbage!

Almost every item in your house that is broken could be repaired or reused. If it is the remnants of a broken glass it can be recycled. Garbage just doesn’t need to be created.

Almost all of my garbage (probably 99%) is from excess packaging that has been created by the manufacturer. For example the plastic wrapping on cheese. I reuse my bread bags and everything I can think of. I am doing my best to eliminate or reduce everything by seeking and creating options.

So before you throw something out think about repairing it, donating it, finding an alternative use or not buying the product in the first place. Next week we will talk about the final R – recycle.

Older Entries
top
Uses wordpress plugins developed by www.wpdevelop.com