Recycling Is Good On Many Fronts
Tagged as: Jun 02I’m not sure how many people actually recycle their goods. Aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, and more can all be recycled. I know that this is not true everywhere, but here in California you actually have to put a cash deposit down on every single item when you pay for it. So when you recycle the item (whether it be plastic or aluminum or whatever) you are actually only getting back your deposit. Somehow I think that if everyone knew this, then there would be more recycling going on.
In any case, I’d like to share a tip for recycling on your own. As you very well know, you don’t have to actually return cans in order to be recycling. You could also be recycling by using things for multiple purposes. A sample case would be the following tip:
Next time you go grocery shopping (after using the grocery pricer to check that you’re going to buy things at a good price, of course) you should choose to ask for plastic one time and paper the next. At home, take the paper bag and place it inside of the plastic one. Unfold the paper bag so that it is now simply its original size with the plastic bag on the outside of it. Place your trash in this bag and when full throw the entire thing away. This is useful because the paper will be able to hold the majority of the weight while the plastic ensures that no leaking will happen. By using this method, you are going to save yourself some cost for “trash bags” while also recycling the bags that you’ve gotten from the grocery store!
I don’t actually know if this is a well-known thing to do. Maybe it is, and I’m just unaware. In any case I’d like those that don’t know to be able to do this as well.
Oh I just thought of another tip that I heard from someone. After you’re done with your toothbrush (if you still use the traditional manual one) then you can use that in your cleaning around the house! If toothbrushes are designed to get rid of the nasty plaque on your teeth, then don’t you think that they’ll be good at cleaning any kind of gunk that you can throw at it?
Alright and coincidentally I just read about some tips for different uses for everyday household things. I like the different uses for dryer sheets, but you can check out the tips for all 10 items featured.
In any case, recycling is not hard, it’s good for both the environment and society, and it’s good for you! So take the opportunity and happy recycling!
Some recycling, like aluminum, and many other metals is EXTREMELY good for the environment. Recycled aluminum takes 80% of the energy it takes to mine new aluminum…and best of all, there was no new mining to harm the environment!
Then you get into grey areas, like plastics. Take milk jugs and soda bottles for example. Because plastic has such a low melting point, they cannot be melted down, and made sterile. So they have to be remade into something other than food containers, like park benches, and fleece sweaters. So a lot of energy was used all the way around, first to make the milk jug, then to recycle, transport, and remake it into something else, plus the transporting of that new plastic thing. On the other hand, it means that much less plastic going to landfills, and being dumped into our oceans. Either way, it’s probably a wash, concidering the pollution and fossil fuels that will be used to recycle it. Best thing? Try not to buy items in plastic, period. That does a lot to save the environment.
Paper…cost is more to recycle the stuff, than take it to landfills. Also not good for the environment the way the plants work that recycle the stuff. So, better to toss it away, or even better yet, start a worm bin, in your own house, and feed the paper (especially newspaper) to the worms. They will consume a great deal of it, and you get a lovely byproduct for your garden.
There’s almost always a way to think outside the box, and come up with something creative to do.
Also you need to think about this… technologies improve all the time. What was once not cost efficent, nor environmentally friendly may become quiet a good technology in the future.
Please do not decide because paper is not cost efficent, nor environmentally friendly to recycle that it will not at some point in your life become the best way to do things. Remain flexable, and open minded. Keep checking up on technologies yourself…what is true today, may not be true tomorrow.