Saving The Planet……..
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Vol. 1 No. 1
January 2013
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My Way!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my first StP newsletter. The goal of this column is to help bring
awareness to simple ways we can help preserve our
environment for our and our children’s future.
My assumption was that everyone knew how easy it was, and
was willing to do their part in saving the planet. I was wrong.
Some people are simply not aware of how easy it can be to do your share.
Preserving our planet for future generations is a must. I hope I can share something meaningful. If just one person learns something, I have
accomplished my goal.
Don’t expect anything
technical, I am looking to learn through the process also so I’m starting out
small.
I will post on this topic once a month. Hope you take time to read!
Common Recyclables that are normally
part of your community recycling program:
Paper -makes up nearly 30 percent of all wastes Americans throw away
each year, more than any other material. Americans recycled about 63 percent of
the paper they used in 2010.
Plastics -Americans generated 31 million tons of plastics in 2010, about 12
percent of the waste stream. Only eight percent of plastics were recycled in
2010. Some types of plastics are recycled much more than others. Most community
recycling programs accept some, but not all, types of plastics. Look for
products made from recycled plastic materials.
Glass - especially glass food and beverage containers, can be
recycled over and over again. Americans generated 11.5 million tons of glass in
2010, about 27 percent of which was recovered for recycling.
Uncommon Recyclables that are not
always part of your community recycling program:
Batteries - Some batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury,
lead, cadmium, and nickel; therefore, many communities do not allow them to be
thrown away with your regular trash. Recycling is always the best option for
disposing of used batteries.
- Lead-Acid Car Batteries can be returned to almost any store that sells car
batteries. The lead and plastics from the batteries can then be recycled and
used to manufacture new products. About 96 percent of lead-acid car batteries
are recycled.
- Dry-Cell Batteries are used in a variety of electronics and include
alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some
cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium
(9-volt, C, AA, coin, button, rechargeable) batteries. Look for in-store
recycling bins or community collection events to dispose of these batteries.
Oil -Never dump your used motor oil down the drain — the used oil
from one oil change can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water. By
recycling your used oil you not only help keep our water supply clean, but help
reduce American dependence on foreign oil. It takes 42 gallons of crude oil,
but only one gallon of used oil, to produce 2.5 quarts of new motor oil.
Did You Know?
If every American home replaced just one light bulb with
a light bulb that's earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to
light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy
costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year,
equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.
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