The three R's

Did you know that recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough energy to power the average American home for five months. Did you know that recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch. That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. Energy savings in 1993 alone were enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years. Did you know that if every American household recycled just one out of every ten plastic bottles they used, we’d keep 200 million pounds of the plastic out of landfills every year?

I am truly amazed at recycling. Before moving to Howell, we were unable to recycle. Why waste management companies don't add recycling to their services is beyond me. I guess it doesn't pay the mob bills-hehe. However, since moving to this great little town of ours, we found a place local to recycle. Its $25 a year and you drop your stuff off on Wednesday or Saturday. You can drive up and volunteers open your trunk and grab your stuff and you are on your way. So-during another crappy snow storm, I loaded the back of the van up with our bins of recycling. Plastics, paper and metals. I drove to the recycle center in town and for $25 a year, you drive up and volunteers open your trunk and unload all your recyclables into huge dumpsters to be reused. I was bummed that I forgot my camera. It was quite a site. Blowing snow and freezing cold and all these dedicated people dropping off their recyclable and the volunteers all bundled up in arctic clothes. It was sort of inspiring.

Paper, Plastic, Glass and Metal. How I separate my recycle-ables is easy. I put some totes in the garage and before I throw something in my trash can, I think before I throw and half the time I take it to the garage to the totes. I also want to add that we went from filling our trash bin to overflow capacity and praying it didn't overturn on the trip to the end of the driveway to two bags of trash. Yes, only TWO bags of trash this week.

I just wanted to post about how great recycling is. Its a little more work but the efforts are worth the work and it pays off in the whole picture of our earth and what it takes to preserve the beauty we take advantage of. Start now!

Here is the link to our local recycling center. Find one in your area tonight!

http://www.recyclelivingston.org/