We are now doing our small part to recycle and reduce our (what’s the phrase?) “ecological footprint” on this earth. This is the third week in a row that we have faithfully recycled every milk carton, cereal box, and Perrier bottle.
What prompted our decision to begin recycling? Was it the fact that we are convicted about this and finally decided to just do it? Was it the fact that it’s become extremely popular to be Green? Was it the fact that ALL the other neighbors are doing it, so there is positive peer pressure? Was it the fact that our new community makes it easy (and free!) to recycle? Was it the fact that Kevin installed a double trash can in our cabinet so it’s easy to set stuff aside? Or was it the combination of all these forces working together simultaneously?
Hmmmm …
Here are some “Fun Facts” about recycling, taken from the brochure that came with our recycling bin. If I wasn’t convicted about it before, I guess I should be now.
- By recycling 1 ton of paper you save: 17 trees, 6953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space, and 4077 kilowatt hours of energy.
- Recycling all of your home’s waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds.
- Each of us generates an average of 4.4 pounds of waste per day per person.
- Enough energy is saved by recycling one aluminum can to run a TV set for three hours or to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.
- You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.
- In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs. of trash for his or her children.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
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4 comments:
Yeah... we didn't do it until Noblesville finally made it free. Now Avery thinks it's a great game take out the "cycle" :-)
I would love to be able to recycle more than the 1 & 2 plastics and aluminum cans. Do you have an easy way to recycle the cereal box cardboard??? I'll have to ask you -- we could recycle so much more if there was a place to do that.
Heather, Zionsville has recycling bins that you put out with your trash can and you leave everything in there. I take apart the cereal boxes and flatten them so they lay at the bottom or can be stacked at the side of the recycling bin.
I'd like to think that I'd pay to "save the earth" but since I've never done it before, I probably wouldn't. It's nice that it's now both convenient and free.
Recycling is stupid: It costs us more, doesn’t save trees, and uses more energy to produce recycled products than it does to dispose of them. Don't believe the enviro-wackos.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_recycling#cite_ref-7)
Nice try though.
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