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Did you know that this coming Monday, November 15th, is a holiday? A green holiday. Monday is America Recycles Day, an awareness day established 13 years ago. From their site:
Since 1997, communities across the country have come together on November 15 to celebrate America Recycles Day. More than a celebration, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the United States. One day to inform and educate. One day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year.Earth 911 contains a simple click guide to where and how just about any household item from electronics, to automotive, to carpet, as well as the typical paper, glass or aluminum can be recycled.
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed a fascinating tool that can be downloaded, the iWARM, the Waste Reduction Model, and works through Microsoft Excel. iWARM calculates the energy saved by recycling and what that savings can power. For example, recycling 10 aluminum cans saves the energy equivalent to run a ceiling fan for 21 hours. The energy saved by recycling one catalogue (tis the season for mailboxes filled with catalogues!) will run a compact fluorescent light bulb for over 3 hours.
Recycling can be profitable as well. Organizations such as RecycleBank have partnered with corporate sponsors to reward recyclers. TerraCycle has an array of fundraisers for recycled items from juice bags to cookie wrappers. On a more local note, in Our Daily Green's community, the middle school has been raising funds for a few years now to repave their track by collecting aluminum cans. Last year, the students won a $5K national grant for their efforts.
Recyling doesn't just save the planet, it saves the green in our wallets as well. Won't you join the celebration on Monday? What will you start recycling?
This story is also featured on Your Olive Branch along with all sorts of other positive and uplifting news from the world of peace and sustainability.
2 comments :
The iwarm thing is pretty interesting, thank you. When we are able to put a $$$ value on something, it tends to really be a motivating factor.
One thing I haven't gotten answered to my satisfaction locally is - what happens to the stuff after we sent it to the recycling center? Because the single greatest motivator to get a recycling effort kicked into high gear is to have a strong market for the next incarnation of the cast off stuff. Anyway, that's my low grade obsession at the moment: where does it go next? (meaning our stuff, specifically, because I'm suspicious if whether anything is actually done with it, lol)
Hi Marti, and thanks for your comment...
Many recycling facilities do invite tours if you're so inclined, but I do agree with you about the leap of faith that it really will be recycled. Here is an article that explains what happens after we throw it out:
http://www.growwny.org/whats-new/259-are-those-really-being-recycled
I think the important step we can take as consumers is to purchase items with recycled packaging or from recycled goods. For example, on a box of food, did you know the shiny white boxes are made from virgin pulp but the tan or grey boxes are recycled paper? If we look for ways to increase the demand for recycled products, we insure a market which insures the items are being recycled. So while it's a baby step, I try not to buy anything that is packaged in shiny white cardboard and consciously look for the tan or grey.
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