

The Three Rs

June 20, 2018
by Jane Whitmore , Emmetsburg News

There is new meaning to the three Rs. In my youth it was reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. Today it stands for Reduce Reuse Recycle

We have curbside recycling in Emmetsburg twice each month. We pay for that service. Take a look in your neighborhood to see how many people actually recycle paper, plastic, cardboard and glass.

I read recently that the Great Pacific Garbage?Patch contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic that weighs as much as 500 jumbo jets.

Our plastic goes to the landfill, not to the ocean. However, plenty of plastic can be found along the shores of Five Island Lake.

I also read recently that recycling one ton of plastic can save over seven cubic yards of landfill space.

The point of recycling is to reduce the amount of trash that goes into the landfill. On average, each person creates over four pounds of waste every single day. Now is your chance to recycle.

Here's a fact:?Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour and most are not recycled. Plastic is an easy commodity to recycle. Grab a basket and pitch clean plastics into it for a couple of weeks, then place it by the curb. It's as simple as that.

Here are some more "fun" facts:

Glass that ends up in landfills takes over a million years to decompose.

Recycling one ton of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water.

Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to power a television for up to three hours.

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy than incinerating it.

Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.

Over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans are used every year.

Over 25 billion styrofoam cups are thrown away in the United States each year.

Around 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.

Recycling helps conserve the Earth's limited natural resources.

We have the opportunity to recycle paper, plastic, cardboard and glass. We can make a difference!



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