Why Recycling?

DID YOU KNOW?

• Recycling reduces the need for landfills, but it also does much more. By recycling, you are conserving natural resources, such as trees, metal ores, minerals, oil, and water. You are also reducing the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases released into the environment, and you are conserving energy. Recycling can be fun and easy, and by recycling, you are helping yourself and your community, and you are setting a good example at the same time.

Paper and Cardboard

• Recycling a four-foot stack of newspapers saves the equivalent of one 40-foot fir tree.
• One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.
• One ton of recycled paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water.
• Making paper from recycled material uses 60% less energy than making virgin paper.
• If every household in the U.S. reused a paper bag for one shopping trip, about 60,000 trees would be saved.
• Recycling one ton of cardboard saves over nine cubic yards of landfill space.
• Every ton of newspaper recycled saves enough energy to power a TV for 31 hours.
• Recycling corrugated cardboard cuts the emissions of sulfur dioxide in half and uses about 25% less energy than making cardboard from virgin pulp.
• If all morning newspapers read in this country were recycled, 41,000 trees would be saved daily and 6 million tons of waste would never end up in landfills.

Aluminum and Steel

• 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.
• Making cans from recycled aluminum saves 95% of the energy required to produce cans from virgin material.
• Recycling a soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.
• An aluminum can recycled today will be back on the grocery shelf in about 90 days.
• Recycled steel is used to make new steel products including packaging, cars, lawnmowers, appliances, and construction materials.
• Making new steel products from recycled steel instead of virgin ore reduces water use by 40%, water pollution by 76%, air pollution by 86%, and mining wastes by 97%.
• For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,000 pounds of coal and 40 pounds of limestone are preserved.
• Enough energy is saved each year by recycling steel to supply the city of Los Angeles with almost a decade worth of electricity.

Motor Oil

• Motor oil never wears out; it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.
• Certified Used Motor Oil Collection Centers pay 16¢ a gallon for used motor oil.
• Motor oil that is poured onto the ground or dumped down a storm drain pollutes groundwater and the surrounding bodies of water.
• Used motor oil can be refined into fuel oil. One gallon of oil, when reprocessed, can generate enough energy to meet the electricity needs of your home for half a day.

Glass & Plastic Bottles

• Making glass from recycled material uses 50% less energy than making virgin glass.
• Recycled glass generates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than making virgin glass.
• Glass never wears out - it can be recycled over and over again.
• Over 41 billion glass containers are made each year.
• Over a ton of resources is saved for every ton of glass recycled - 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.
• Producing a ton of glass from 100% raw materials creates 384 pounds of mining waste. Using 50% recycled glass cuts this waste by about 75%. Plastic
• Five recycled soft drink bottles make enough fiberfill for a man's ski jacket. Thirty-six recycled bottles can make one square yard of carpet.
• Recycled soda bottles can be spun to make fiber filling for pillows, quilts and jackets.
• Five soda bottles yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt.
• It takes 25 two-liter bottles to make a sweater.
• It takes 35 two-liter bottles to make enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag.
• HDPE (detergent bottles, milk jugs, plastic yogurt containers) can be recycled into plastic pipes, plastic lumber, flowerpots, trashcans, or bottles used for non-food applications (for example, soaps).

Green Waste

• Yard waste is collected and ground up into mulch or composted into useful soil amendments.

Other Facts

• Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year.
• Recycling generates jobs and revenue.
• 75% of our trash can be recycled.

Make Every Day Earth Day

April 22, 2010 marked the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day. But every day can be Earth Day if each of us does our part to preserve the environment.

Did you know?

• The garbage in a landfill stays for about 30 years.
• Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.
• One bus carries as many people as 40 cars!
• More than 1/3 of all energy is used by people at home
• Most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year
• We each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year
• 1/3 of all water is used to flush the toilet.
• The 500 million automobiles on earth burn an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day.
• Each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
• Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each year ends up in the ocean.
• The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
• For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
• Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees
• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years
• Earth is 2/3 water. But all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent.
• 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones
• 5 billion aluminum cans are used each year
• 84 percent of all household waste can be recycled.
• Computers pose an environmental threat because much of the material that makes them up is hazardous. A typical monitor contains 4-5 pounds of lead.
• Each year billions of used batteries are thrown away in the United States. This constitutes 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium deposited into our landfills
• One gallon of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water. So dispose it properly!
• Here is an example of the water we use everyday:

3-7 gallons for toilet,
25-30 gallons for tub,
50-70 gallons for a 10 minute shower,
1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons,
1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons

• Here is an example of how long it takes some things take to break down:

plastics take 500 years,
aluminum cans take 500 years,
organic materials, take 6 months,
cotton, rags, paper take 6 months.

Let’s do our share.

21 ways to go green on a budget

Going green. Does the phrase make you want to hold your wallet a bit tighter? Look around and it would seem you’d need to spend more cash to be in tune with Mother Earth.

Drinking organic milk could cost you twice as much as regular milk. Dressing in earth-friendly clothes, which includes materials such as bamboo, hemp, and organic cotton, costs more than a standard set of threads. And the hybrid car? That could cost you thousands more than its traditional counterpart.

Are there ways to help the planet without parting with all the green in your wallet? Yes. Here are 21 ways.

Save money while being eco-friendly

There are probably as many ways to go green as there are flavors of ice cream. So how do you decide which ones to pursue first? Start with simple fixes that have a quick payback:

1. Switch out your lightbulbs. By replacing your regular lightbulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs),* you can cut your electric bill. These bulbs use less energy and last longer than regular bulbs.
2. Use a programmable thermostat. Using one of these so you’re not heating and cooling a house when no one’s in it could save you about $100 a year on your energy bills. If one in ten households did this, more than 17 billion pounds of greenhouse gases could be prevented from being emitted into the atmosphere, according to Energy Star Action Guide.
3. Kill vampires. The typical household has 20 appliances that use electricity even when they’re turned off, according to a Cornell University study, costing $200 a year. (The displays on these TVs, DVD players, stereos, and electric toothbrush docks continue to glow even when “off.”)  To kill these vampires, you can plug these into fuse-protected power strips (also called surge protectors) that allow you to cut the juice with the flip of a switch.
4. Replace the shower head. By replacing your current shower head with a low-flow one, you could save 20,000 gallons of water per year, assuming two six-minute showers a day.
5. Pay bills online. This will save you the price of stamps and trips to the post office (which will save you gas), and eliminate paper waste.
6. Keep your tires pumped. When you drive with tires that are properly inflated, you could improve your gas mileage by more than 3%, according to Kiplinger.com.
7. Shop at the local farmers market. Do this and you’ll not only get fresher produce, but you’ll be buying food that didn’t require a lot of gas to transport from across the country or from another continent. To find a farmers market near you, use your zip code to search Localharvest.org.*

Drive less

Let’s face it: If it were easy to do, we’d all be driving less and pocketing the savings. Easier said than done. But if you’re determined to save on fuel, here are four ways to go. Do it right, and you may even trim your waistline.

1. Walk to the train or bus.
2. Ride your bike instead of driving to run local errands.
3. Carpool. You may be able to find a carpool in your area through Carpoolconnect.com* or Erideshare.com.*
4. Consider a car-sharing program. Companies in some cities have cars that you rent by the hour, so you have a car only when you need one. You pay either an hourly rate or a flat rate for the day. The cost includes insurance, gas, and miles. Two examples are Zipcar.com* and Ucarshare.com.*

Go easy on the landfills

By buying less new, and reusing or recycling what you already have, you can help reduce the amount of waste going into our landfills.

1. Shop consignment stores. You don’t need to look like you walked out of a 1970s fashion magazine to save money on used clothing. There are plenty of consignment shops and online auctions that sell today’s fashions at a fraction of what they’d cost new. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, secondhand clothing stores prevent more than one billion pounds of textile from ending up as waste in landfills.
2. Recycle your electronics.  When you donate your used electronics,* you keep them out of the landfills and allow families and schools to obtain computers and other electronics they otherwise couldn’t afford. To find out how to recycle other things, go to Earth911.com.*

Gadget corner

Hooked on gadgets and gear? Here are five that can help you on your quest to protect the environment:

1. Use a travel mug for coffee or tea, instead of paper cups.

1. Use a long-lasting water bottle, instead of disposable ones.

1. Buy reusable shopping bags.

1. Use a rain barrel* to catch water you can use in your garden in drier weather.

1. Invest in a compost bin* to slow the growth of landfills. You can also build your own, whether it be a small one* or a larger one* made out of a 32-gallon garbage can.

Other things you can do

1. Plant a Victory Garden. Grow your own fruits and vegetables* in your backyard. You’ll not only eat more healthily and save money on your grocery bill, you’ll help fight global warming by eating food that requires no transporation to your home.

1. Be skeptical of buying stuff with vague green claims like “All natural.” Mercury and lead are naturally occurring elements, but you still don’t want them in your food or shampoo.

1. Try a volunteer vacation. You can visit some truly outstanding destinations for less money and help the environment at the same time with organizations such as Wilderness Volunteers* or American Hiking Society.*

Getting a low-carbon footprint

By following one or more of these 21 suggestions, you’ll do your part in helping to prevent a rise in the Earth’s temperature.

For more ways you can reduce your carbon footprint, check out Carbonfund.com.*

*When you access any of the sites mentioned in this article, you will be leaving our site. Vanguard is not responsible for the accuracy of information on third-party sites. Vanguard receives no remuneration for website links in this article. This article is for educational purposes only.

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Celebrate Earth Day 2008 by making a difference

Ways You Can Make a Difference
These actions may seem to be simple and insignificant, but when joined by the efforts of everyone - we can make a difference.

Don't leave the water running. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or washing the car. Fresh water is one of our most precious natural resources.

Flick off the light when you leave the room. Power plants burn fuels to create energy for your light bulb. Burning fuel makes smog that pollutes the atmosphere and adds to global warming. The less energy you use the less they need to make, and you'll save on your energy bill.

Print on both sides of the page at work. It's easy to change your printer settings - you'll use half the paper and save trees. Way to go! This should save money along with the trees.

Wash your clothes in warm or cold water. It works just as well as hot in your washing machine and cuts back on energy use.

Ditch the disposable cups. Bring in a glass or mug to keep at work instead of using the disposable ones by the coffee pots or water cooler.

Use the right settings on your appliances. Many appliances, like your dishwasher and refrigerator, come with energy-saving settings. Make sure they're turned on.

Turn off your computer at the end of the day. A monitor left on overnight uses enough energy to print 5,300 copies.

Join the paperless society, use e-mail.

Send electronic greetings for special events and you can save money and paper.

If you do not need to make a paper copy, don't. And get off the junk mail lists.

Use cloth napkins and towels instead of paper napkins and paper towels to save natural resources, reduce waste, and save money!

Look at the labels. Take the paper items with the "recycled" emblem over the ones without or look for the Energy Star symbol when buying new appliances.

Bring natural sunlight into your home. Turn off unneeded lights when it is feasible. Turn all lights off before you leave work.

Properly inflate your tires. Once a month can help improve your gas mileage ... and with the price of gas, this should be a regular routine.

Take shorter showers. You can save water and energy.

Tune up your household heating system. You can save energy and reduce your heating costs by 10% Good Recycling Starts at Home.

Recycled materials are processed and used to make new products. One big problem is that paper, plastic, and other commodities are easily contaminated. Be careful to sort your materials appropriately, or the whole load may wind up in the landfill instead of at a recycling manufacturer. What can you do? Flatten your cardboard boxes for curbside pickup. Don't put plastic bags inside paper bags, and don't leave paper receipts inside plastic bags. Make sure you take those sticky notes off of white paper. Remove the caps before you recycle milk jugs. And please wash out recyclables so they don't attract bugs, mold, and mice.

DID YOU KNOW?
Throwing trash in a trash bin and recyclables in their proper container seems to be a very simple concept, yet some of us cannot comprehend the efficiency of this system. Perhaps some alarming facts will make you reconsider where your trash goes.

According to SKS Bottle & Packaging, Inc., if you throw your plastic soda bottle on the ground today and come back 700 years from now, you will find it looks almost exactly same! But if you recycle your plastic soda bottle, you will help make a variety of products such as Rubbermaid, Rollerblades, car bumpers and other common products. Recycling one ton of paper saves the equivalent of 17 trees, according to the Illinois Recycling Association. It saves enough energy to power an average home for six months. It saves 7,000 gallons of water and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air.

Americans throw away enough paper each year to build a wall 12 feet high stretching from New York City to Los Angeles. Think of how much energy and natural resources we could be saving when, according to the NIU recycling program, we recycle only 22 percent of all the paper used in America in a year. There is vast room for improvement.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours. It results in 95 percent less air pollution and 97 percent less water pollution than producing aluminum from natural resources. Think of all the beer cans thrown away in a party's aftermath. If we recycled these beer cans, then you might say partying helps the environment. Recycling aluminum saves 95 percent of the energy it would take to mine the raw materials needed to manufacturer aluminum, according to the NIU Recycling Program.

Glass can be recycled over and over again; it never wears out. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

Recycling saves enough energy each year to provide heat and light for 400,000 homes, according to the Illinois Recycling Association. According to the Environmental Protection Agency in 1999, recycling and compost activities prevented about 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 28 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years. But there is always room for improvement. Recycling is the easiest thing we can do to improve our environment. It saves energy and natural resources, diminishes pollution and reduces our growing landfills. For recycling to succeed we all need to check the labels and to buy products made with recycled content. Everything from clothes to carpeting, cans to comic books are made from recycled materials.You are doing your part when you help close the recycling loop.

For more information, here are a few website:

http://www.zerowaste.ca.gov/

http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/shortest.html

http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/nav/page525.aspx

A little change can make a big different if you think green

Here's some more "Green Numbers"

Two Birds With One Stone - If one 20-mile trip per week was cut out (by combining errands) for every registered vehicle in the United States, 145 million fewer tons of greenhouse gases would be released into the air each year. That's equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 36 coal-fired power plants.

Use a Rake, for Goodness Sake! - One hour of using a gas-operated leaf blower produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as a car driving 4,400 miles - that's a round trip from Salt Lake City to New York City.

Paint by Numbers - If 1 quart of leftover paint was recycled from every renovation project in America this year (10 percent of all the house paint purchased in the United States is typically thrown out), it would reclaim 2.5 million gallons - enough to paint the outside of the White House every year from the next 43 centuries, or to paint San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge 250 times.