Go green save green

"Imagine if trees gave off wifi signals.  We would be planting so many trees and we'd probably save the planet too.  Too bad they only produce the oxygen we breathe."  Unknown

Everyone has heard this since you were young.  "Recycle, recycle, recycle", "save the planet", and "go green".  I'm not here to preach about recycling or even to tell you to do it.  At the end of the day it's each and every person's personal decision as well as their reason(s) why they do or do not recycle.

Let's look at trees.  They give shade, help prevent run-off, add a nice touch to a piece of property, provide a source of heat to millions of family's world wide, and they are even home to many animals around the world, and its disappearing at about 20 million acres per year.

According to The Paper Lifestyle, paper products takes up about 35% of our landfills.  

Let's take a moment to think about that, if we were to recycle more paper, that would free up a large chunk of landfill space for non-processable waste.  Prices for post-consumer paper products are comparable to virgin paper products, and in reality should prove to save you some money when you go to purchase your office supplies.  This is because it is cheaper to manufacture and as an incentive to purchase eco-responsible products.

Company's have started to resort to "tree farms".  That means that loggers have started responsible harvesting and have reduced the amount of virgin forests they must strip to supply our paper product needs.

Let's take a look at another popular item found in most people's house. Cans of soda.   One source claims the average American consumes about 600 cans of soda per year.  That is 1.6 cans per day.  

In result several states participate in a mandatory program called "bottle deposit".  That program consisted in charging a nickel(a dime in some states) per bottle and can, they have "redemption centers" in city's and towns where they gave you back your bottle deposit in return for the cans/bottles you redeemed.  Likely many of you reading this won't live in one of those states, that is why there is s second option.  

Scrap aluminum, depending on the day of the week and all that jazz, the scrap value could be as high as fifty cents per pound.  You would need about 34 cans per pound.  If your going to drink them and you have some storage room you might as well.  

You could always just put them in the blue recycle bins and put it curb side on trash day.

Are you feeling thirsty?  They say you should be drinking at least 64 oz of water per day.  When I think about drinking water I first think, that my tap tastes chlorinated so I reach in the fridge for a bottle of water.  

The United States consumes about 1500 bottles of water per second, and the world consumes about 50,000,000,000 bottles of water annually, says sources at Tree Hugger.

One 20oz bottle of water weighs about 7oz.  In the recent years they have started making those environmentally friendly bottles such as Dasani's "zero waste bottle", so the weight can vary by up to 50%. For the sake of math let's stick to the control weight of a bottle of 7oz.  
Every second the U.S. produces 656.25 pounds of plastic waste just from bottles of water.  There seems not to have a cookie cutter answer on the weight of a bottle anymore because they are constantly being "re-evaluated" and "improved".  For our purposes 7oz per bottle will work.

Was that a head of lettuce I saw go out in the garbage?  Ever though about composting, but didn't know where to start or thought I live in an apartment, don't I need it outside?  Well compost-able goods along with paper and wood products is estimated to take up to 65% of our landfill space.  I am not going to give you a how to guide. YouTube does that quite well.  Just the facts and some opinions. Composted soil makes some of the best potting soil(psst... and its free).  Go to Google and search "vermicompost".  Use it to grow a window garden for your herbs.  Give the nutrient rich soil to your friends and family and maybe they might give you a share of their harvest.  If you look at indoor compost bins (some are made of all recycled materials, 2 birds with 1 stone) they are designed for indoor use(like duh, its in the name) and have little to no odor. Some claim to "odor free".  Poke your head around to find something suitable for you and yours.

There are millions upon millions of other things that can and are recycled.  Take a look at Waste Managements site for a generalized list of what you can recycle and where.


If you are looking for a gift that has been given a second chance at life take a look at Uncommon Goods

That was my 2 cents.  Hope you enjoyed the read and stay green.

~Daved1058