Recycling comes last in our prioritization of the 3 R’s (remember: reduce first, reuse second, and recycle third). Although recycling is good for the environment, reducing and reusing are ideal. Recycling still requires energy and can add pollutants to our air and water. So, before you add something to one of your recycling bins, take one last look and think about whether there is any other role that item can play. Can it reused, refilled, repaired, rearranged, refurbished, or reinvented, to name a few options? If your answer is no then, by all means, please do put it into your recycling bin.
Have you ever wondered what happens to your items once they are picked up? Usually, they take a three-part journey to become post-consumer products. First, the recyclables collected at your curb or at drop-off locations are taken to a recovery center where paper, metals, plastics, and glass are sorted. After they’re separated and cleaned, they are then sent off to remanufacturing facilities to be made into new products that feature total or partial recycled content. The last leg of the journey is when we purchase that recycled product for long- or short-term use. Some plastics, for instance, are used in a number of products such as carpet, clothing and floor tiles. Repulped paper and cardboard can be made into your weekly newspaper and other paper products. Aluminum cans are melted down and reused.
Recycling options do vary from place to place. The best way to find out about recycling services in your area–what can be recycled and by whom–is to visit www.earth911.com. Enter your zip code to see what’s available in your area. Another resource is www.obviously.com/recycle. There you can get tips and ideas on what to recycle and how to avoid items that cannot be recycled.
Hopefully, in your community, your waste management service includes recycling or you have recycling centers for dropping off your recyclable items. Curbside pickup or recycling drop-off plants have become the norm in almost all areas of the United States and Canada, and this is great news. Although most of us have the opportunity to recycle in our homes and communities, what do we do however when we’re away from home? Sadly, most of us are not usually recycling when we’re either traveling or eating meals outside. According to environmental groups, plastic waste is increasing, but plastic recycling is decreasing. Probably the biggest contributing factor is that when we’re outside of our homes, we’re usually unable to recycle. Take, for instance, a trip to a local deli. We purchase a cup of soup, a salad, and a bottle of water. Chances are, we now have in our hands three containers as well as utensils and paper napkins. All of these items are probably recyclable. Whether we eat that food in the deli, in the car, or somewhere else other than home, we’re more than likely not going to be thinking about where to dispose of these items so they can be recycled. We probably will think about not wanting to litter–which is good–so we’ll more than likely throw everything into the nearest trash receptacle. In order to cut down on the amount of recyclable materials that are ending up in our landfills, we need to be mindful of recycling vs. waste–no matter where we are.
FOR TODAY…My challenge for this week is that we all be more mindful of what is truly trash and what can be recycled, especially when we’re away from home! If we are outside and end up with recyclable containers and no place to recycle them, let’s place them in a reusable bag and bring them home to dispose of in our own recycling bins! Also, if we begin to demand that establishments provide receptacles for recycling, in addition to trash, more and more people will begin to take positive actions that benefit our planet.
DID YOU KNOW…
*About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
*Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
*The American Plastics Council says the U.S. is tapping into only 25 percent of our potential recycling ability. Since most plastics are made from fossil fuels–a precious, limited resource–it’s crucial that we stop treating plastic as a single-use, disposable item.
*The Container Recycling Institute estimates that 8 out of 10 water bottles will end up in landfills; that’s over 22 billion bottles! Since plastic is NOT biodegradable, these bottles will be a problem FOREVER, eventually breaking down into smaller and smaller TOXIC pieces that pollute our land and water.
