I’m not the best at keeping up-to-date with “national [insert random thing here] days.”
It seems like every day is some kind of special recognition day! I never know if I should be celebrating pirates, donuts, my second cousins, etc.
But one day that slipped by me deserves a mention: America Recycles Day 2018 was on November 15.
On that date you may have seen friends or other green organizations post on social media about their recycling efforts. To make my (belated) celebration of the day a little more fun, I’ve decided to share 5 facts about recycling you probably didn’t know:
1. The recycling and reuse industry in the U.S. supports 757,000 jobs and $36.6 billion in wages.
2. Recycling supports American manufacturing and increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials. In fact, Indiana has several manufacturers that make products out of recycled materials!
3. Recycling 10 aluminum cans saves enough energy to run an air conditioner for 1.7 hours.
4. Recycling 10 glass bottles saves enough energy to power a laptop computer for 20.9 hours.
5. Recycling 10 plastic bottles saves enough energy to illuminate a 60W CFL light bulb for 97.8 hours.
Fact source: EPA America Recycles Day 2018 page
As I’ve mentioned before, recycling isn’t the perfect sustainable solution. It still requires a lot of energy, and it can make us feel like endless consumption is okay as long as we recycle everything. (Spoiler alert: It’s not!)
However, recycling is still a vital piece of the sustainability puzzle in today’s landscape. Recycling saves energy compared to extracting new raw materials, supports jobs and manufacturing, and keeps useful commodities out of the landfill.
I hope the facts above inspire you to be mindful of where you toss your waste today!
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