What is recycling?

Recycling is a form of taking trash and turning it into new products. Recycling is very good for the environment, but if you don’t know if it’s supposed to be recycled, DON’T RECYCLE IT! It is better to throw it out than to have it contaminate the other items in the bin. When in doubt, throw it out.

Some things that can be recycled are aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, batteries, paper, cartons, and cardboard. Plastic is especially important to recycle because it can take up to 400 years to decompose. Not all plastic can be recycled but plastic bags, plastic bottles, and shampoo bottles can be recycled.

Plastic Problems

    Plastic is a man-made material that we see every day. Your bike helmet, toys, water bottles and much more are made of plastic. 8.8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. We throw away about 4 million tons of trash every day. 12.8% of that waste is plastic.

    Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, 29 billion water bottles per year to be exact. Recycling can help a lot. Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours.

  Marine Life in          Danger

    Fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and other marine mammals are all suffering from plastic in the ocean. According to the website Condor, 100 million marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone. 

    52% of the world's turtles have eaten plastic for breakfast. A floating plastic bag can look like a jellyfish or other food. Plastic waste pollutes every inch of the ocean, it can even end up in the seafood we eat. By 2050 there could be more plastic in the sea by weight than fish.