The importance of recycling Environmentally

Economically

Socially

Americans generate 250 millions tons of household trash each year. Less than half of

these Americans recycle.

What are you most likely to recycle? Why? Order the objects from most recycled to least recycled by Americans.

An acre of tropical forest is lost every second due to the lack of recycling paper, pencils, and wood.

In 2006 alone, Americans consumes 99,778,437 tons of paper. Only 10% of that paper Americans use.

It takes 700 years for ONE water bottle to decompose in a landfill.

What problem do you

see?

Environmental Benefits:

+ Recycling helps global warming by reducing greenhouse gasses produced.

“In a study involving 35,116 tons of material, it was found that the reduction in green gas emissions was equivalent to taking 22,140 cars off the road.”

Landfill Overload.

Electric Waste: Families, Businesses, Government world-wide

-Chemicals released due to e-waste not being thrown away properly cancer.

Electronic Waste Includes:

Cell phones Computers

Refrigerators Circuit Boards

Smoke Alarms Batteries

Many electronics manufacturers and retailers offer e-waste recycling for free.

2% of the 100 billion plastic bags produced in the United Stated each year are recycled. Ocean’s have become a new home for this trash. Atlantic Garbage Patch* Animals inland are mistaking trash as food.

Recycling is costing companies money to contribute to recycling and producing recycled goods. Is it worth it?

Plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper low value, but expensive for companies to reuse.

+Recycling is costless for Americans.

+ Stimulating the economy by providing more jobs.

+ National Recycling Coalition reported: 56,000+ recycling enterprises in the U.S. employs over 1.1 million workers

worldwide.

Companies have targeted consumers with “environmentally friendly” and “100% recycled” logos on products.

Environmentally friendly products but at a higher price. At Walmart: Tide Laundry Detergent 100 oz $11.94

At Walmart: Clorox Green Works Laundry Detergent 90 oz. $12.74

Is it just a “fad” to gain social acceptance?

Celebrities have turned recycled objected into clothing.

Do they truly care about the environment?

Schools are taking action.

Encouragement within the classrooms.

More blue bins than ever.

Change needs to happen

All images taken from googleimages.com

Hamilton County Department, (2008). 2008 progress report. Department of Environmental

Service. Retrieved from: http://www.hcdoes.org/images_08/2008ProgressReport_lr.pdf

Hoover K., & Curran, Mary. (2010). Trash pie. National Science Teachers Association,

47(7), 54-57.

Miezkowski, Katherine. (2007). Bad bags. New York Times, 1-3.

Neale, Jane, C. (2008) Go green!, Library Journal, 133(2), 46.

Obama, Barack. Office of the Federal Register. (2010). Proclamation 8601- America recycles day, 2010 (CVPD201000983). Washington, DC: Federal Register.

Patterson, Lindsay. (2008). The economics of recycling everything. EarthSky, 1-7.

Retrieved from: http://earthsky.org/earth/the-economics-of-recycling-everything

South Carolina Department of Solid Waste Reduction & Recycling, (2011). Economic benefits of recycling. Columbia, SC. Retrieved from:

http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/lwm/recycle/pubs/economic_benefits_of_recycling.pdf

Shea, Brady (2011). Why should we recycle? Davidson News Retrieved from: http://davidsonnews.net/2011/03/01/why-should-we-recycle/

Unknown. (2009). Ocean garbage patch. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39(2), 10-11.

Weeks, Jennifer. (2007). Future of recycling. CQ Researcher, 17(44), 1-16.

Why Recycle? (2010) North County Recycles, Retrieved from: http://www.northcountryrecycles.org/recycle

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gqJAsXiKQ