When you really stop and think about it, plastic is everywhere. In fact, if an item is man-made and you’re positive it isn’t made of metal, wood, paper, or glass, it’s very likely it’s made from plastic. A good chunk of these items are made from repurposed plastic, but plastic is still found in high volumes in landfills all over the world. In fact, plastics account for 10% of the waste stream in the United States. Although this is a large number, people seem to be getting better at recycling plastic bottles. In fact, the amount of plastic bottles recycled in the United States has grown every year since 1990! In the most recent survey, it was discovered that 2.4 BILLION pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in 2008.
Still, the amount of plastic waste we produce is staggering. In 2010 alone, 31 million tons of plastic waste was produced. And not all of this waste made it to the landfill. In fact, plastic bags and other plastic garbage (such as six pack rings) have a nasty habit of finding their way into the ocean, where they kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!
But you can help! It’s so easy to throw a plastic bottle in the trash, but if you take the extra time to recycle, you’ll be helping the planet. In fact, by recycling just a ton of plastic waste, you’ll be saving 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space. There are thousands of curbside recycling collectors and recycling drop-off services that will help you to recycle those pesky plastics.
So do your part to help the planet! Recycle your plastics whenever you can! And if you feel like helping the planet with it’s plastic problem AND getting a neat thing for your house, be sure to check out Hipcycle’s wide variety of upcycled plastic products!
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1 Response
Interesting post! I totally agree with you on the points of recycling. We should start reusing and recycling plastic waste now and help mother earth keep clean and green. Nice share!
July 25, 2013 at 10:48 am