Does What We Throw Away Affect Others?

DID YOU KNOW? About one-third of an average landfill is made up of packaging material Each Sunday 500,000 trees could be saved if everyone recycled their newspapers. Recycling a stack of newspapers 3 feet high saves one tree. Americans will buy an estimated 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles this year. 8 out of 10 (22 billion) will end up in a landfill.

Why Recycle? Recycling conserves our natural resources. Recycling saves energy, clean air, water and landfill space. Throwing away a single aluminum can, versus recycling it, is like pouring out six ounces of gasoline. Last year, Americans recycled enough aluminum cans to conserve the energy equivalent of more than15 million barrels of oil. The EPA estimates that 75 percent of what Americans throw in the trash could actually be recycled. Currently, only 25 percent is.

WHAT IS E-WASTE? E-Waste stands for electronic waste and includes things such as computer hardware, various devices such as joysticks, microphones and scanners, audio and stereo equipment, VCRs and DVD players, video cameras, telephones, fax and copying machines, cell phones, wireless devices and video game consoles. The recycling of consumer electronics often is referred to as "E-cycling.

LOCAL IMPACTS Throwing old electronics in the trash can cause an unwanted release of these contaminants to landfill leachate and incinerator ash. What's more, e-waste that isn't properly recycled or disposed of can end up in rivers and other water supplies. Therefore, keeping used and discarded electronics out of the environment is important to prevent pollution in our communities

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