Recycling

I have been trying not to be to political or controversial on this blog however, there is something that has really been annoying me lately. In this political climate of unemployment and tough financial times I can only think of an easy solution that would bring about many jobs and also help our environment.  What could be such a great thing???

MANDATORY NATIONWIDE RECYCLING!!!!

How would this help???  Well there are many ways.

First, Did you realize that 75% of our domestically produced natural gas is used to make water bottles?  Bottled water...really? Yes it is true. Only a very small fraction of these bottles are recycled! I see it every day, cases upon cases of bottle water purchased  and where I live there is not mandatory recycling so I know that most of these bottles are going into the landfill.....and they will be there for hundreds of years...yes hundreds. I don't want to bore you with all the facts and figures but for instance recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours and there are 24 bottles in a case of water......that is a lot of energy to be saved!!

As far as metals go they are usually recycled more frequently because people get paid by the pound for these metals.....but we can still do better. A recycled six-pack of aluminum cans could save enough energy to drive a car five miles, or, it means one recycled aluminum can is equivalent in energy to a half a can full of gasoline.  ( and I know a few readers of this blog have experience with six packs!! )

Much glass has been replaced by plastic because plastic is lighter and easier to ship.

And with the invention of email, computers and a lot of people finally being aware of recycling, paper and cardboard is very widely recycled. But still.....Each year more than 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills for all uses.

Now I know some of you live in states where there is mandatory recycling and bottle deposits I just don't understand why this is not a requirement for the nation! ( And some of you may be thinking how could recycling help our economy?) Well here are my thoughts......

You have to have people to collect, sort and process the recyclables this equals job creation!!!!

We can save tons...yes literally TONS of fossil fuels by recycling which will increase our energy independence and reduce the need to drill and frack wells in wildlife and watershed areas.

Nobody seems to want a landfill in their back yard but I have often hear..."but recycling is such a hassle", Really???  How big of a hassle would a landfill be In your back yard??   Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space....think of how much compacted waste would fit in that amount of space! You have to admit our landfills are not getting any smaller! We are, and have been, encroaching on wildlife habitats for years for our landfills....so If we can make the landfills smaller....we can have more "green space" which is more beneficial than a landfill!

SO what can you do??? Well besides recycling.....write letters, emails and make phone calls to your elected officials to encourage them to put laws on the books in favor of recycling!!!  Talk with people about recycling, set an example for your children by recycling. Ask yourself how can we be such a technologically advanced society that ignores something so simple as recycling???