 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
||||
An average one-day event attendee produces between one and three pounds of trash.
Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. Many of them still get thrown away, even though they are recyclable.
The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood and other products. That’s more than 1.5 billion trees used each year, just for the U.S.
The “Ecological Footprint” calculates the total flow of materials and energy necessary to support an economy or individual, in terms of acres of land. For all the world to live as an American or Canadian, we would need two more earths to support their needs!
One office employee can generate as much as 15,000 printed pages per year (the paperless office has been elusive). Using recycled-content paper and double-side copying are two easy ways to reduce environmental impacts.
Most garbage sent to landfills will not decompose or rot. It will be there for decades, because modern landfill technology prevents water and air from coming in contact with materials, sealing it in a static form forever.
Of the materials still being disposed of in landfills, 20% is recyclable, 25% is compostable and 16% is recoverable construction material like wood and metal.
The “chasing arrows” symbol used on products to indicate their recyclability is called a “mobius”.
(No relation to Moby, but Moby does recycle.)
Californians recycled 12 billion aluminum cans, glass and plastics containers with “California Redemption Value (CRV)” deposits in 2004.
In California, refunds funded by deposits of .08 cents for 24 ounce and above containers, and .04 cents for containers under 24 ounces, help motivate people to pick up and redeem them for cash, thus preventing roadside litter and unnecessary waste.
Plastic container recycling programs captured about 60 percent of the total amount of containers sold in California in 2004. That would fill three 50,000-seat sports stadiums to the rim!
While plastic bottle recycling is popular, largely due to redemption values received when containers are returned, more than 40% of these easily recyclable materials were trashed, mostly due to lack of convenient recycling containers in public areas.
Plastics make up 7% of our garbage by weight but 25 to 30% by volume.
Although many plastic products have a recycling symbol printed on them, typically only those with #1 and #2 can actually be recycled in most programs. Those plastics types are easy to make into new products such as new containers, fleece, patio decking, plastic envelopes and much more.
Polystyrene (Styrofoam™) products rank fifth among all US products in the amount of toxic waste created while they are being made. When it is burned, more than 50 chemicals are released into the air.
Styrofoam™ is a hazard to sea animals because it looks like food when it is floating in water. When eaten, it clogs systems of fish and sea animals, often causing starvation.
Plastics like #5 polystyrene and #6, polyproplene do not yet have strong markets or technologies to enable them to be recycled cost-effectively. Those plastics types are usually sent to the landfill, even if you’ve placed them into your recycling bin. (To reduce your contribution to plastics waste, avoid buying products in #5 and #6 disposable containers.)
Recycling one ton of materials has twice the economic value of burying it in a landfill. Recycling goods over and over creates five jobs for every 1,000 tons.
Recycling is big business; in California the recycling industry is comparable in size to the movie and video industry. It produces $100 to $200 million annually in sales tax revenue for California!
Every ton of paper recycled saves 17 30-foot trees.
Each year, recycling activities save about 14 million tress from being cut.
The energy saved from recycling one aluminum can will power a TV for 3 hours.
84% of our discards could be recycled.
It takes 500 years for a plastic bottle to break down.
Recycling one six-pack of aluminum cans saves enough energy to drive a car for five miles.
Compost is organic (carbon-based) materials that break down (decompose) over time, becoming nutrient rich soil.
The compostable materials collected at the X Games will be taken to a composting facility near Bakersfield, combined with yard waste materials collected from homes around Los Angeles, and placed into piles. The piles will be watered and turned for a few months, until the contents have been transformed into dirt.
Compostable materials are consumed by macroorganisms like bugs and worms and microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. As they eat our castoffs, their life processes create the soils that provide the nutrients that grow all our planet’s food, trees and grasses.
Composting at home is easy and fun. Materials including leaves, grass, food and kitchen scraps like paper towels, tea bags and coffee grounds, are collected in a bin or container outside, and then watered and sometimes turned, until they become dark, rich soil called compost.
Compost improves soils, helps conserve water and provides nutrients to growing plants.
Grasscycling means leaving newly cut grass on the lawn to decompose and provide nutrients to new growth, instead of mowers picking up and discarding it, thus reducing the need for fertilizing.
To learn more about composting (see it, smell it, touch it, but don’t taste it), visit the “X Garden” near the TRASHed Recycling Store, Plant a vegetable sprout in the planter boxes, talk to compost experts and find out about local classes and internet resources to help you learn about how you too can “do it in the backyard”.
Making products will recycled content can use 95% less energy than making the same product from virgin materials.
Plastic drink bottles can be recycled into polyester threads to make clothing and carpeting. Shampoo and detergent bottles are recycled into plastic lumber for tables, chairs, bathroom partitions and outdoor products like planter boxes and parking stops. Plastic lumber doesn’t rot, doesn’t need painting and won’t cause splinters.
It takes only five plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill for a ski jacket.
Our longterm goal is that our events, as well as other events, will achieve “zero waste.”
“Rubberized asphalt” is made by mixing crumb rubber from tire discards with asphalt used to pave roads and highways. It makes roads last longer and reduces wear and tear on vehicles utilizing those roads.
Motor oil collected in local communities and at auto service shops, can be “re-refined” or processed again until it is as pure as virgin motor oil.
http://www.earth911.org
For home composting information, see ::
http://www.smartgardening.com
Check with your local city or county to find out more about the recycling programs in your community.
The TRASHed :: Recycling Store has been successfully implemented at events ranging from Warped Tour to the UN World Environment Day. We are actively seeking partners who wish to deploy the Recycling Store at their upcoming event. If you are interested in becoming a partner, or in volunteering for one of our upcoming events, please get in touch.
Visit the Global Inheritance home page to learn more about us.