Things we tend to trash when we should recycle

About 75% of the trash we throw away could be recycled. Prior to the 1980s magazines were not recyclable because of their glossy pages, now because of today's new technologies, they ARE recyclable! I recycle the junk mail catalogs, but I donate the regular magazines to local school art programs (another great idea to recycle and help the students at the same time). Speaking of JUNKMAIL... More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail! The average American receives 18 pieces of junk mail for every one piece of personal correspondence. Most junk mail can be recycled, even the envelopes with the little plastic see through windows in them! So do what I have and make a special junkmail/scrap paper box and recycle it! I will be posting another blog focusing just on junk mail and how to stop it! So be on the look out! Phone books can also be recycled, depending where you live you may have to find the nearest drop location. Computer paper is one of the most prevalent and easily recycled types of paper made today. So next time you print the wrong size document or have to edit and reprint something again, refrain from balling it up and shooting it in your nearest trash can, place it in your junkmail/scrap paper recycling box instead! Do you know that to produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down? Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75,000 trees. If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year! If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year. Only 27% of the newspapers produced in America are recycled. Newsprint is easily recycled and can be made into new newsprint and other materials. So if you have newspapers lying around don't trash them! You can use them as packing materials, or just recycle them the plain old fashioned way! Cardboard is recyclable when not wet or contaminated with food or oil. Did you know that cardboard is also biodegradable? 1/3 of the average dump is made up of packing materials which could be recycled. Another good idea is to keep the packing materials for when you need to send something off in the mail, you still recycled the materials and you save a little money as well! GO GREEN AND SAVE GREEN!!! If we recycled all newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal, we could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year!! Paperboard is also recyclable! Paperboard makes up all the boxes that your cereal comes in, and other products, like I said before almost ALL packing and packaging materials can be recycled. This is what I go by for easily determining if its recyclable or not...
If it is, plastic, glass, paper, or metal of most sorts it can be recycled! Most everything in my home is recycled. I put out an average of 2-4 bags of trash a month! THAT'S A MONTH PEOPLE! How much trash do you send to the dump even weekly? Probably at least that if you don't recycle! Recycle and you will also save money on buying trash bags, and wont have to do that chore of taking the trash out so much! Also all food that is not consumed in my house is put into a compost pile if it is organic, including any cut flowers I dispose of . Each year the average American throws out 1200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted! And once again by going green and making a compost pile you are saving some green by not having to buy pre-packaged soil when its time to plant that garden you have been thinking about doing for a while now! SO JUST DO IT! Now is the time to go green ALL THE WAY!! More to come on these subjects! I will keep you posted!

Facts based upon:
www.Earth911.com
www.ewashtenaw.org
www.stopjunkmailkit.com

The beginnings of the Recycle Walk

My idea for the recycle walk is to combine exercising (walking together in groups) together with picking up trash that litterbugs throw down on the side of the roads. We will be cleaning up our environment and getting in shape at the same time. Most of everything I pick up from litterbugs can be recycled, so mostly everything we clean up will be recycled. The groups would consist of at least 4 or 5 people per group. If more people join together, we will send groups of 4 or 5 people in different directions. Each person will have a separate bag which will be labeled either plastic, glass, tin, paper, or trash. This will eliminate us having to sort through it all later. I will then take all the recyclables to the recycle center and any money made from the recycling will be donated to an organization that saves animals effected from pollution and littering. This will first start off in Lake County, Florida but one day I hope to spread this idea through out the country and maybe even through out the world! So to sum my ideas up, this one organized group can do so much for our planet while we are socializing and exercising. This system will work in a circle helping over and over to protect the beautiful nature that surrounds us! More information to come. I will be working on getting a group together so if you are interested become a follower so you can keep updated. Now to do more research on organizations that save animals ( I want a local organization) and to make some contacts with local recycling centers! Until next time, enjoy the beauty of our planet and I encourage you to come up with some planet saving ideas of your own!!