get this.

It takes 28% less energy to recycle than to produce paper from scratch. Paper accounts for 40% of solid waste in the united States, which is about 72 million tons annually. If every household replaced one roll of regular toilet paper with one recycled post-consumer waste roll,

424,000 trees would be saved.

A single tree will absorb one ton (yes, one ton!) of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

[becomegreen.info]

Bet you a nickel you didn’t know this….

Folks, check this out–some things you may or may not know about recycling. Make sure your good ‘n’ green efforts aren’t for nothing.

When recycling paper, take this to heart:

• You don’t have to remove staples, plastic windows, spirals from notebooks. These get strained out when the paper is turned to pulp
• Remove tape if you can, because it tends to gum up the machines, but it’s ok if there is some left.
• No dirty or greasy paper (very important!!). This means no napkins or tissues (even if they are only slightly dirty)
• Do NOT recycle pizza boxes!!! Even IF the pizza box IS clean, they will still assume it’s dirty and toss it just the same, and possibly the whole container as well!
• Waxed, composite or laminated paper is generally not allowed, like milk cartons, fast food wraps, drink boxes. Note: Some places accept drink cartons, but I wouldn’t recycle it if it means getting milk all over clean paper and ruining it for recycling. I cannot emphasize enough that if that happens everything will get tossed!
• Thermal paper cannot be recycled - this means fax paper, but I also think it means supermarket receipts, which are increasingly printed on it are not recyclable also.
• Flatten cardboard boxes - again, if they are not flattened, they can be rejected.

Who knew?? Fantastic stuff. Of course, it will only matter if we all start paying more attention to what we do with our waste.

[These tips--and other great ones for glass and plastic--were found on confessions of a closet environmentalist, my new favorite green website.]

a little recycling trivia.

Did you know that……….

• the average person in the United States produces about 6.5 pounds of trash every day?
• at the rate Americans are generating garbage, 500 new landfills would be needed every year?
• one third of the paper mills in the United States use recycled waste paper exclusively?
• every three months, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the nation ’s commercial air fleet?
• if you throw away two aluminum cans, you would waste more energy than is used daily by each of a billion citizens in poorer countries?
• the energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a television for three hours?
• it takes 95% less energy to make aluminum from recycled scrap than from virgin materials?
• making new paper from recycled paper requires 30-50% less energy than making paper from trees and it reduces contributions to air pollution by 95%?
• every ton of recycled office paper saves approximately 380 gallons of oil?
• the energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours?

it’s like those fantastic NBC commercial moments from our childhood starring Levar Burton and various other sundry actors….the more you know.

[http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/Common/CountyDpt/PlanDev/swTrivia.asp]

environment 101: a refresher course

Okay, kids. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane to Environmental Science. How much do you remember from those glory days of middle school?

Recall the Four R’s…

1) Refuse (don’t use)
2) Reduce (use less)
3) Reuse (use the same thing over and over again)
4) Recycle (make new products from material)

ringing a bell?? 

Sustainability and Resources.

Our existence depends on energy and materials derived from the sun and earth.

Energy from the sun = solar capital. Earth materials (air, water, soil, wildlife, minerals, habitats, surface processes) = earth or natural capital. A sustainable society lives off this capital without depleting it. Once capital is used up our existence is imperiled.

Can we sustain our present population? What about twice our present population? Can we increase everyone’s standard of living? Can we sustain ever-larger populations with ever-higher standards of living without running out of earth capital? What is the human carrying capacity of the earth?

One of the determining factors in answering these questions is how much natural resources we have to support our lives and societies.

did you know….

For every ton of paper used for recycling the savings are:

• at least 30,000 liters of water

• 3000 - 4000 KWh electricity (enough for an average 3 bedroom house for one year)

• 95% of air pollution.

[wasteonline.org]

stay tuned.

In the United States, we use enough office paper each year to build a 10-foot-high wall that’s 6,815 miles long, or two and a half times the distance from New York to Los Angeles.

[Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, “Recycling Facts and Figures,” PUBL CE-163, 2002]

we don’t know if you realize this, folks, but that’s a lot of paper. stay tuned.