Sunday was America Recycles Day, a day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products.
Considering the average American uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products per year, and about 80 percent of what Americans throw away is recyclable, but the recycling rate is just 28 percent, it seems Colorado is getting the message.
New numbers from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment show that recycling in Colorado continues to increase - and, in addition to recycling more waste in 2008, Coloradans sent less waste to landfills for the first time since 2003.
The benefits of recycling are well-known, from preventing pollution and saving energy to conserving natural resources and preserving the environment for future generations, but why the shift now? Jeannine Natterman, Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division spokesperson with the Health Department, explains, "Up to now, it's been a lack of infrastructure. People were hearing about recycling, but it wasn't accessible."
"Now it is," she continues. "And it's become more common so people realize that they, too, can do it."
So what have Colorado's recycling efforts accomplished?
The report shows that recycling in Colorado saved the equivalent energy needed to power nearly 350,000 average homes for a year. And the total savings by residents recycling for the year resulted in a net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions equaling 3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of removing more than 695,000 average passenger cars from Colorado's roadways for a year.
Recycling comes down to personal responsibility - and, in some cases, initiative. But Natterman points out that recycling is, in fact, empowering:
"With all the things going in the world, this is the one thing in our control: Do you recycle or do you throw it in the landfill? The decision is yours."
Could Colorado be a more recycling-friendly state?
For more information about the "Annual Recycling Report for Calendar Year 2008," and where to recycle in Colorado, visit the Recycle4Colorado Web page.
And find more information about recycling.
--Carolyn Spellman
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