January 14 – Respecting the Earth: Recycle everything you use today … Collect all paper, plastic, metals and glass used and take them to your local recycling center at the end of the day. Take all your biodegradable refuse, chop it up and “express-compost” it in your garden/yard. Bonus Activity: Buy recycling bins &/or a composting bin for your home with the intention of making recycling a regular part of your Life.

Recycling has become a hot-topic in the United States. What many other countries (especially those in Europe) have known for decades, we here in the US are starting now to realize: that recycling is beneficial not only to the planet as a whole, but directly for us as its inhabitants as well.

Here are a few facts that might help make today’s task (and today’s possible lifestyle change) more Meaning-full:

… recycling creates four times more jobs than traditional waste management options.

… recycling costs significantly less than traditional waste management options (It costs $30 per ton to recycle, as compared to $50 per ton to landfill & $70 per ton to incinerate)

… recycling saves landfill space (it takes every glass bottle thrown away roughly 4000 years to decompose)

… the energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can light a standard light-bulb for 4 hours (& a compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours)

… the energy saved from recycling one aluminum can is equivalent to the energy in ½ a gallon of gasoline

… the energy saved from recycling in 2005 alone equaled the energy use of 9 million homes for that year

… recycling plastic uses half the energy that it takes to dispose of it in an incinerator

… using recycled materials during production is much more efficient than using only virgin materials

… reducing our national energy needs reduces our dependence on foreign oil (and one quart of improperly disposed motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water)

… using recycled materials dramatically reduces the air & water pollutants released during virgin material production

… a 30% national recycling rate lessens as much greenhouse gas emissions as removing 25 million cars from the road

… the more we recycle, the less natural habitats we destroy (remember: animals are “people” too!)

… recycling saves trees (remember: trees are “people” too!)

*every ton of paper recycled saves 17 trees

*every 17 trees absorb 250 lbs of CO2 from the atmosphere per year

*alone the printing of one Sunday’s newspapers in the U.S. requires the death of 500,000 trees

* just recycling 10% of those news papers would save 25 million trees per year

… alone the wood & paper thrown away in the U.S. in one year could heat 50 million homes for 20 years. Most of that paper garbage is junk mail.

… per year, the average American throws away 1200 lbs of organic garbage that could be composted

… 16 billion diapers are thrown away each year by Americans alone

In essence, this issue is more poignant in our country than anywhere else in the world. We as Americans (only 5% of world population) produce over 40% of world’s garbage. It’s time that changed, and it’s up to us to do the changing.

Regularly taking items to your local recycling center is the most obvious way to do so (we have bins here on the farm and make a recycling run to the transfer station about once a month). And yet there are other, more creative ways to recycle your garbage. Basically, before you throw anything away, take a moment to see if you can use it in a creative way …

Remember as well that, while it does indeed bring immense personal benefit to recycle, what you are really doing with your efforts is preserving the quality of life for the world’s future generations; enabling them to experience the same natural wonders with which you have already been blessed.

Remember as well that every little bit counts – every can, every piece of paper, and every bottle you recycle is one significant step towards improving the lives of every living being on the planet. Let’s all go make that difference, one small act at a time.

See You when I see you …

… and until then, Be Now!

Scaughdt

Filed under: 366 Days of Kindness by Scaughdt