Everything You Need to Know about Recycling

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Your recycling efforts are beneficial to the environment, the community, and the future of our planet. Creating a recycling plan for your household can help with the sustainability of our earth. The best part about recycling is that it is easier than many homeowners may believe. If you are a beginner, we have compiled a list of tips to help you with your recycling efforts. Let’s take a look!

  1. Know Why You Recycle. A significant part of recycling is understanding the impact waste, and greenhouse gas emissions have on our environment. Recycling can decrease the amount of waste we send to landfills, help to protect our natural resources, cut back on pollution, save energy, and it can lessen greenhouse gas emission. Recycling takes your products/materials and repurposes them.
  2. Know How to Recycle. You will need to check with your community to see what specific items you can recycle. We have compiled a list of the most common items that can be recycled but always check with your city to see if they will accept these items:
      • Paper. The United States Environmental Agency states that “30% of trash generated each year is paper. This is more than any other material.” When you recycle paper, it helps make new paper products, save our trees, and other natural resources. When you are purchasing new paper, look to see if it is made from recycled materials.
      • Batteries. Typically, communities do not recommend homeowners to throw away their batteries because they can contain heavy metals. The best choice is to recycle your batteries.
      • Plastic. The amount of plastic Americans use each year is alarming. In 2014, we used 33 million tons of plastic and only 9.5% of that was recycled according to The EPA.
      • Glass. Glass is an extremely reusable resource. It can usually be recycled at your local community curbside site.

3. Know When and Where to Recycle. Some cities offer recycling bins that can be picked up weekly at your house and other communities offer central drop off locals for homeowners to drop off their materials.

It is important to take into consideration your global footprint. How are you contributing and affecting our earth? If you do not know, that is okay! Recycling can be a great start. Recycle when you think about it then eventually you can challenge yourself to recycle more often.