Lindsay Baumann

A Recycling Mission

It seems as if we live in a throwaway world. If things are looking dirty and old, we throw it away. If something is slightly broken we throw it away instead of trying to fix it. I find myself falling into this same trap. Things are so reasonably priced now, and time is so valuable, that it doesn’t seem worth your effort to take care of what you have.

Often times I find myself buying new pairs of sneakers, just because my last pair is dirty or slightly worn out. I find myself buying new running shoes every month or every other month. This is such a waste. If I were to wash my shoes more often or take a little more care of them I could easily wear them, around even if they were no longer good enough for running.

I often have this wasteful mentality with natural resources. I will leave the water running and think that there is an endless supply of it. I will also find myself throwing things out that could easily be recycled. Now that I think about my actions, I realize that I have been living in a very selfish way. Keeping the water running or taking extra long showers may not be affecting me, but it is affecting someone, somewhere. Now that I have had this realization I have decided to make some changes about my lifestyle and myself. I have been bringing my cans and plastics to the recycling bins in the basement of my building. The way that I have made this possible is by making separate garbage pails in my room for glass, aluminum, and plastics. I know that a lot of people living in my dormitory building are unaware of these facilities. I therefore posted signs around in hopes that these people will also begin recycling. I also have been more conscious of my water use. This is not a big deal for me. It is easy to turn off the water, I just have to do it. Lastly, I am going to be more appreciative of the things that I have and take better care of them in hope of prolonging their life span. I plan on cleaning my shoes on laundry day with all of my other things. Once I get in the habit of this it should be rather easy. It is a responsibility that pays off. I will have shoes that look nicer and save money.

Weekly Sustainable Plan:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Post signs on the first floor.	Post signs on the second floor.	Recycling Day	Post signs on the third floor	Post signs on the forth floor.	Replace signs.	Laundry day, clean shoes.

Reaction:

I have followed through with my proposed actions and have had a great deal of success. The best method for promoting recycling was actually word of mouth. Few people knew of the recycling bins in the basement. Before the signs were posted the bins were always almost completely empty. Within the last few weeks they have been overflowing. Now, the problem is that they aren’t being picked up enough. It is nice to see that little actions can cause such big changes. The products which are being recycled are not biodegradable. If they had been thrown out they would be filling our limited landfills forever. By being recycled they are saving space and natural resources.

How recycling can help preserve our environment:

Recycling saves energy, therefore reducing acid rain, air pollution, and global warming.
Recycled paper uses 60% less energy to produce than manufacturing paper from virgin timber.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to light a bulb for four hours.
Recycling conserves valuable natural resources.
Recycling metals minimizes the need for mining new materials and decreases damage to wilderness.
Recycling cuts down on landfill.

Five reasons why Americans should recycle:

It saves natural resources

Making products from recycled materials instead of virgin materials, we conserve land and reduce the need to drill for oil and dig for minerals.

It saves energy

It usually takes less energy to make recycled products; recycled aluminum, for example, it takes 95% less energy than new aluminum from bauxite ore.

Saves Clean Air and Water

In most cases, making products from recycled materials creates less air pollution and water pollution than making products from virgin materials.

Saves landfill space

When the materials that you recycle go into new products, they don’t go into landfills or incinerators, so landfill space is conserved.

Saves Money and Creates Jobs

The recycling process creates far more jobs than landfills or incinerators, and recycling can frequently be the least expensive waste management method for cities and towns.

As you can see from the information given above, recycling is so beneficial to our environment and every little bit helps. The following are quantities and energy amounts saved by recycling according to the National Polymers Inc.

Paper recycling:

4100 kilowatts saved per ton recycled
60lbs. of air pollution reduced per ton recycled
36 tall stacks of newspaper save the equivalent of 14% of the average household electric bill.

Steel Cans:

Scrap steel reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%
It takes four times as much energy to make steel from virgin ore.
Annually, enough energy is saves by recycling steel to supply the city of Los Angeles with almost decade worth of electricity.

Glass bottles and jars:

A ton of glass produced from raw materials creates 384 lbs. of mining waste. Using 50% of recycled glass cuts it by 75%
Recycling glass reduces air pollution by 14-20%
Recycling glass saves 25-30% of the energy used to make glass from virgin materials.

By putting in just a little effort we can all take a part in preserving and sustaining the world. The facts are given above and I feel they are very convincing. For me this process took minimal effort, but makes a huge difference. Now, I have decided not only to make sure that I am doing my part, but also that other people are. It is my world and I want to be able to breathe clean air and plant forests instead of landfills.

Bibliography

The Environmental System of America. http://envirosystemsinc.com/howswhys.html

National Polymer Inc. www.envirosystemsinc.com/resrec.html

The Center of the New American Dream. 1999, CNAD, www.newdream.org