ecoPharmacist

Recycling tips

To add to my previous chat on recycling, here are some more recycling tips to make the habit easier!

 

 

Buy recycled paper and print on both sides. When using paper in the home or office, print on both sides of the sheet and recycle the paper when you are finished. By recycling one ton of paper, you can save 17 trees, almost 7,000 gallons of water and more than three cubic yards of landfill space.

 

Recycle your outdated technology. According to EPA, Americans throw out two million tons of e-waste each year. Avoid adding to that waste by recycling your old technology. Check with your local waste management company to find out your options for disposing of electronics and appliances. There are safe options and many areas have a neighborhood clean up days that gives free disposal dates once or twice a year.

 

Make recycling bins readily available. Make sure your home and office are outfitted with recycling bins for paper, plastic and metal. Keep them out in the open and label them appropriately. Sometimes the convenience factor is all that is needed.

 

Recycle your empty ink and toner cartridges. Almost eight cartridges are thrown out in the United States every second of every day. That’s almost 700,000 cartridges per day.

 

Buy remanufactured ink and toner cartridges. Each remanufactured cartridge keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills and saves about a half gallon of oil. I recently learned you can refill ink cartridges at Costco of all places!

 

Recycle old magazine or newspapers lying around the home or office. When finished reading the newspaper, or your favorite magazine, either leave it for someone else to read or recycle it. Many have chosen to use online newspaper or magazine subscriptions now. That makes for an even better option to protect the environment.

 

Look for the recycled option in all the products you buy. It’s not just paper that is recycled.

 

Buy rechargeable batteries. It takes 1,000 regular batteries to equal the lifespan of one rechargeable battery. When you are discarding your batteries, recycle them.

 

Purchase rewritable CDs, DVDs and thumb drives, or any other memory devices, so that you can reuse them from project to project.

 

Reuse your morning coffee cup. Or better yet, buy a mug to avoid the waste caused by throwing away the paper or Styrofoam. Styrofoam has been banned in many areas, and hopefully that trend will continue.

 

 

Recycling Basics

Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your community and the environment. Here are some recycling basics, courtesy of United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Benefits of Recycling
-Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators

-Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals

-Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials

-Saves energy

-Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change

-Helps sustain the environment for future generations

-Helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States

 

Steps to Recycling Materials
Recycling includes the three steps below, which create a continuous loop, represented by the familiar recycling symbol.

 

Collection and Processing

There are several methods for collecting recyclables, including curbside collection, drop-off centers, and deposit or refund programs.

 

After collection, recyclables are sent to a recovery facility to be sorted, cleaned and processed into materials that can be used in manufacturing. Recyclables are bought and sold just like raw materials would be, and prices go up and down depending on supply and demand in the United States and the world.

 

Manufacturing

More and more of today’s products are being manufactured with recycled content. Common household items that contain recycled materials include the following:

 

-Newspapers and paper towels

-Aluminum, plastic, and glass soft drink containers

-Steel cans

-Plastic laundry detergent bottles

 

Recycled materials are also used in new ways such as recovered glass in asphalt to pave roads or recovered plastic in carpeting and park benches.

 

Purchasing New Products Made from Recycled Materials

You help close the recycling loop by buying new products made from recycled materials. There are thousands of products that contain recycled content. When you go shopping, look for the following to make your contribution to the world’s recycling efforts:

 

Products that can be easily recycled

Products that contain recycled content

 

Below are some of the terms used to identify such products:

Recycled-content product – The product was manufactured with recycled materials either collected from a recycling program or from waste recovered during the normal manufacturing process. The label will sometimes include how much of the content was from recycled materials.

 

Post-consumer content – Very similar to recycled content, but the material comes only from recyclables collected from consumers or businesses through a recycling program.

 

Recyclable product – Products that can be collected, processed and manufactured into new products after they have been used. These products do not necessarily contain recycled materials. Remember not all kinds of recyclables may be collected in your community so be sure to check with your local recycling program before you buy.

 

Some of the common products you can find that can be made with recycled content include the following, adding to your knowledge of recycling basics:

Aluminum cans

Car bumpers

Carpeting

Cereal boxes

Comic books

Egg cartons

Glass containers

Laundry detergent bottles

Motor oil

Nails

Newspapers

Paper towels

Steel products

Trash bags