Recycling Hints

Paper is Gold Paper products constitute 40% of all trash. All of that can be recycled! Let's take all that valuable resource out of our landfills and recycle it.

Oh High Yo The highest point in the state of Ohio is not a mountain, but it is a garbage dump that is called Mount Rumpke.

Drink This, Then Recycle Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups that cannot decomposed or be recycled. Now it can be recycled! Let's do our part to recycle styrofoam instead of pitching it into our landfills.

Huge Opportunity for Improvement Only about 30% of paper, trash, and food waste is recycled. We have a great oppotunity to make a huge impact and improve this recycling ratio. We have nowhere to go from here but BETTER.

Even Paper Has An Impact On The Planet 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water can be saved by recycling 1 ton of paper!

Contribute to Sustained Recycling 80% of papermakers in America use at least some form of recycled materials to create new paper.

What A Waste Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Lets Stop! This plastic material can be turned into cold hard cash, so why throw all that money away?

Plastic Is Beautiful Recycled plastic is can be made into polyester carpets, plastic lumber, clothing, flower pots, and insulation for sleeping bags & ski jackets.

Aluminum Equals Energy All soda cans are made from aluminum. Each American uses about 400 cans a year. If aluminum is recycled, 95% less energy is used.

Technology Polution Cell phones, computers, and other technology release toxins into the environment when they are thrown away. The only way to stop the pollution is to recycle them. Let's keep these toxins out of our landfills so it cannot seep into our drinking water.

The EPA Has Asked For Your Help Although 75% of our trash can be recycled, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a national goal of 25% for 1992. With Recycle Pay, we are on target to greatly exceed this goal.

A History of Success The first real recycling program was introduced in New York City in the 1890s. The city's first recycling plant was built in 1898. By 1924, 83% of American cities were separating some trash to be reused.

Package and Re-Package About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material. This material can easily be recycled to create new packaging for new products. Let's do it.

Compost Up Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.

Water Is A Scarce Resource One-third of the water used in most homes is flushed down the toilet. Many parts of the world are experiencing drought, so we must conserve.

Wanna Drink Some Motor Oil? A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water. If we don't dispose of motor oil properly, we'll be drinking it whether we like it or not.

Overview of Plastic Bottle Recycling Collection
Most of the plastic bottles collected for recycling today come from curbside collection programs where householders separate designated recyclable materials from their trash and place them out for collection in special receptacles or bags. These recyclables may include containers such as glass and plastic bottles, milk cartons, juice boxes, aluminum cans and foil, and steel cans, as well as newsprint and other recyclable paper products. Some communities allow householders to commingle recyclables, by placing recyclables of different material types into the same receptacle. Others require some level of material segregation, known as source separation. For example, many curbside collection programs require that newsprint and cardboard be bundled, or placed in separate receptacles, and placed alongside receptacles with commingled recyclable containers. These materials are then picked up by the municipality or a contract waste hauler and taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF) for further separation and processing.

Some states and counties have implemented collection systems with even higher levels of source separation. Source separation represents the best opportunity for producing the highest value and highest quality raw materials for recycling since crosscontamination of materials is much less likely.

The most common source separation approaches consist of the following:

• Bottle collection in states that have bottle deposit legislation
• Programs that require the homeowner to set out separate containers for each recyclable material category