The Problem:

People don’t recycle

By: Sonia Pathak

The Facts:

• Forests are being cut and trees are being felled at an unimaginable rate of 100 acres per minute. All this to produce paper which is normally used and disposed without much thought.
• A plant takes a minimum of 15 to 20 years to grow into a tree, but takes less than ten minutes to be felled, and on an average one tree can yield about 700 paper grocery bags, which will be consumed in less than an hour by a supermarket!
• Almost every hour, nearly 250,000 plastic bottles are dumped into the landfill. The average time taken by plastic bottles to decompose in a landfill is close to 700 years.
• Plastic not only adds to landfill space and takes forever to decompose. Used plastic dumped into the sea kills and destroys sea life at an estimated 1,000,000 sea creatures per year!
• Glass is one of the very few products that can be completely recycled again and again. But most often times, it ends up in landfills and never decomposes.
• Nearly 60 to 70% of waste found in dustbins can be recycled and reused and close to 50% of the same waste can be composted.
• The United States is one of world’s largest producers of trash. Trash is produced at an alarming rate of 1,609 pounds of trash per person, per year.

Why:

Often times, recycling instructions are vague and ambiguous. How are we expected to instinctively categorize trash as either recyclable/non-recyclable?

My Solution

A detailed list (that even a hobo could understand) compiled of what exactly is/ isn’t recyclable, printed onto sticker paper. This would be attached onto garbage bins. Not only would it boost recycling awareness, it is both easily implementable and cost effective.

Quiz Time!

A: Yes! The Hershey’s Chocolate Company manufactures over 20,000,000 Hershey’s kisses per day, which uses approximately 133 square miles of aluminum for wrapping the chocolates. This aluminum wrap is recyclable, however most of this recyclable aluminum reaches the trash cans instead of recycle bins!

Are the Hershey’s Kisses foil wraps recyclable?

Are Crayons Recyclable?

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Yes! In fact, there is even a National Crayon Recycle Program operated by Crazy Crayons, LLC. Each day, more than 120,000 pounds of crayons are produced in the U.S. alone. With drop-off bins nationwide and a mail-back option, the program accepts unwanted and broken crayons for recycling into new crayons. The recycling program has already diverted more than 47,000 pounds of crayons from landfills.

Yes! Though it is best to avoid as many organic contaminants as possible, that lime wedge or last bit of peanut butter won’t ruin the recycling batch. Getting the containers as clean as possible is always best, but wasting water in doing so isn’t helping either. Glass, metal and plastic are all recycled in an extreme heat process, so the organic materials end up incinerated.

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Are dirty containers recyclable?

Works Cited:

• "Recycling Statistics and Facts." All-Recycling-Facts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
• "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: Why Do People Put Stuff That Isn't Recyclable into the Recycling Bin?" 'Worthwhile Canadian Initiative'N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
• "I Didn't Know That Was Recyclable! - Earth911.com." Earth911com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

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