
The importance of recycling
 Environmentally
 Economically
 Socially
Americans generate 250 millions tons of
household trash each year. Less than half of
these Americans recycle.
What are you most likely to recycle? Why?
Order the objects from most recycled to least recycled by
Americans.
An acre of tropical forest is lost every second due to the
lack of recycling paper, pencils, and wood.
In 2006 alone,
Americans
consumes
99,778,437
tons of paper.
Only 10% of
that paper
Americans
use.
It takes 700 years for ONE water bottle to decompose
in a landfill.
What
problem
do you
see?
Environmental Benefits:
+ Recycling helps global warming by reducing
greenhouse gasses produced.
“In a study involving 35,116 tons of material, it was found
that the reduction in green gas emissions was
equivalent to taking 22,140 cars off the road.”


Landfill Overload.
Electric Waste: Families, Businesses, Government worldwide
-Chemicals released due to e-waste not being
thrown away properly
cancer.
Electronic Waste Includes:
Cell phones
Computers
Refrigerators
Circuit Boards
Smoke Alarms
Batteries
Many electronics manufacturers and retailers offer e-waste
recycling for free.
2% of the 100 billion plastic bags produced in the United Stated each
year are recycled.
Ocean’s have become a new home for this trash.
Atlantic Garbage Patch*
Animals inland are mistaking trash as food.


Recycling is costing companies money to contribute to
recycling and producing recycled goods. Is it worth it?
Plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper
but expensive for companies to reuse.
low value,
+Recycling is costless for Americans.
+ Stimulating the economy by providing more jobs.
+ National Recycling Coalition reported: 56,000+ recycling
enterprises in the U.S. employs over 1.1 million workers
worldwide.

Companies have targeted consumers with “environmentally
friendly” and “100% recycled” logos on products.
Environmentally friendly products but at a higher price.
At Walmart: Tide Laundry Detergent 100 oz $11.94
At Walmart: Clorox Green Works Laundry Detergent 90 oz.
$12.74

Is it just a “fad” to gain social acceptance?

Celebrities have turned recycled objected into clothing.

Do they truly care about the environment?

Schools are taking action.

Encouragement within the classrooms.

More blue bins than ever.
Change
needs to
happen
All images taken from googleimages.com

Hamilton County Department, (2008). 2008 progress report. Department of Environmental
Service. Retrieved from: http://www.hcdoes.org/images_08/2008ProgressReport_lr.pdf

Hoover K., & Curran, Mary. (2010). Trash pie. National Science Teachers Association,
47(7), 54-57.

Miezkowski, Katherine. (2007). Bad bags. New York Times, 1-3.

Neale, Jane, C. (2008) Go green!, Library Journal, 133(2), 46.

Obama, Barack. Office of the Federal Register. (2010). Proclamation 8601- America recycles
day, 2010 (CVPD201000983). Washington, DC: Federal Register.

Patterson, Lindsay. (2008). The economics of recycling everything. EarthSky, 1-7.
Retrieved from: http://earthsky.org/earth/the-economics-of-recycling-everything

South Carolina Department of Solid Waste Reduction & Recycling, (2011). Economic benefits of
recycling. Columbia, SC. Retrieved from:
http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/lwm/recycle/pubs/economic_benefits_of_recycling.pdf
Shea, Brady (2011). Why should we recycle? Davidson News Retrieved from:
http://davidsonnews.net/2011/03/01/why-should-we-recycle/

Unknown. (2009). Ocean garbage patch. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39(2), 10-11.

Weeks, Jennifer. (2007). Future of recycling. CQ Researcher, 17(44), 1-16.

Why Recycle? (2010) North County Recycles, Retrieved from:
http://www.northcountryrecycles.org/recycle

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gqJAsXiKQ
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