Recycle and Get Green

Blue disposal bins, catchy three-word slogans, signs asking users to separate green glass from clear glass, 'paper or cardboard only' disposal receptacles - these are just a few of the visible signs of the modern recycling movement. Recycling has been a major issue since human beings first started forming organized societies. Renaissance armies would melt down old, worn out cannons to reclaim some copper instead of having to dig it out again.

The Great Depression made it difficult to get food, let alone new goods, so people buckled down and learned how to reuse. The US and Britain launched massive recycling and reclamation campaigns during World War II to maximize wartime production. People have always found ways to save time, effort, and money by finding inventive new uses for their personal goods.

What’s Old Is New Again

The modern story of recycling as an environmental movement truly begins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the first time, with conservation efforts and the consequences of worldwide pollution really being made public (facilitated by the explosion of television's ability to reach a worldwide audience), people were becoming aware of the ability of major recycling campaigns to positively affect their lives. Spurred by events like the infamous Mobro 4000 barge, which sailed up and down the eastern coast of the Americas for nearly a year hauling a full load of garbage, people were moved to take widespread, systematic action.

Recycling can have a significant impact in many obvious, measurable ways. Every aluminum can melted down and reclaimed is one less can that has to be stored in a landfill. Landfills aren't simply dumping holes that are filled once and ignored, but sophisticated facilities that require careful attention, maintenance, and energy to properly function. For example, inspectors are required to periodically ensure that the environmental seal around the underside of landfills doesn't rupture, potentially spilling pollutants into the local environment through leakage. The less product that gets dumped into these landfills, the less a modern society has to invest in their upkeep.

Recycling By the Numbers

The benefits go beyond the mere physical, however. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that recycling tin and aluminum cans only requires five percent of the energy needed to make all new cans out of raw materials. Similarly, the EIA estimates that paper recycling reduces the energy cost of paper manufacture by forty percent compared to all new paper production. Reduced energy consumption means less pollution from the power plant, and less need to harvest the fossil fuels that are still the world's predominant energy supply.

Simple Home Green

That isn't to say that recycling only has a benefit in the realm of production. There are of course benefits to private recycling as well. Some solutions are simple - a milk jug can be cut open and turned into a measuring tool for rainwater for the scientifically minded. Rather than discarding old clothing, some families cut the garments up for use as rags, patching material, or even art supplies. A pair of jeans someone would never wear in public often find new life as work trousers for painting or automotive projects.

Plastic shopping bags are often thrown away without consideration, but some families stretch their dollar a bit by using them as small-can trash bags, such as for waste paper in the bathroom. This saves the cost of buying new bags, at the very least. For those interested in getting even more use out of these bags, they can be used as improvised lunch bags, or for transporting food to a big picnic.

And, if you can’t find a way to reuse something, there is always the option of taking it to the appropriate city recycling facility. The key is to find creative ways to reuse the materials already in the home, instead of just throwing them away.

Simple Office Green

Similar options exist for the office environment, of course. In particular, offices generate a lot of paperwork, and an equal amount of paper waste. Some small businesses actually take advantage of this, and instead of throwing out their old shredded paper and scrap, use it as package stuffing. This saves them the cost of purchasing new packing material, and keeps the scraps out of the landfill for a bit longer.

Cardboard shipping boxes can often be reused as well, whether to continue shipping goods or as a low-cost way to store some short-term documents until the new filing system arrives. Additionally, some cities even have buyback programs, offering small monetary compensation to those who recycle certain products. Businesses should research their local options, as they could possibly use this as a way to reduce their operating costs over the year. It won't bring in millions, but the wise businessman saves wherever possible.

Think About It

In both house and office environments, the key to successful recycling is stopping to think. A great deal of the waste generated in the modern world can be reused or recycled, but isn't because people have a habit of throwing out their soda bottle when finished drinking. Finding new ways to recycle doesn't require expensive programs or elaborate schemes. All it really requires is for someone to stop for one moment when throwing something away, then asking themselves, 'Is there something else I could do with this?'