This should already be a no-brainer. Yet, people in the United States still continue to throw out clearly recyclable goods. In some cities, it may even be impossible to find their recycle centers to make it convenient for their community members to recycle at their homes.
Waste avoidance should be first priority because it encourages companies to design their manufacturing processes and packaging with elimination of wastefulness in mind. Second, waste that can’t be avoided must be recycled or converted into energy. Lastly, waste that can’t be recovered must be disposed of in a way that is environmentally safe.
Americans represent 5% of the world’s population, but generate 30% of the world’s garbage.
To put it another way...
• Americans throw away enough garbage everyday to fill 63,000 garbage trucks, which if lined up end to end for an entire year would stretch half way to the moon.
• In a lifetime, the average American will personally throw away 600 times his or her body weight, which for an average adult would leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash at the end of their lifetime.
• Of the garbage Americans throw out, half could be recycled, which is enough to fill a football stadium from top to bottom everyday.
• Of these recyclables, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire commercial air fleet every three months, enough steel to reconstruct Manhattan, and enough wood to heat 5 million homes for 200 years.
• U.S. waste disposal costs exceed $100 billion annually.
Most importantly, this is a huge step in motivating people to open their eyes to the damage they are causing for this generation not just the future generations.
Some information taken from:
https://utahrecycles.org/get-the-facts/
