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Recycling saves trees, protects
wildlife habitat, reduces the use of toxic chemicals, curbs global warming,
decreases water pollution, and reduces the need for landfills and incinerators.
There can also be a profit in selling recyclables and buying recycled products,
which contributes to the demand for more recyclables.
The top ten reasons to recycle and purchase recycled products: |
1. Recycling paper products saves trees. Recycling a four-foot stack of
newspapers saves the equivalent of one 40-foot fir tree.
2. Recycling protects wildlife habitat and biodiversity. Using recycled
materials reduces the need to chop down, extract, process, refine and transport
our natural resources such as timber, crude petroleum and mineral ores. As a
result, destruction of forests, wetlands, rivers and other places essential to
wildlife is also reduced.
3. Recycling lowers the use of toxic chemicals. Making products from
already refined waste materials reduces, and often eliminates, the need for
manufacturers to use toxic chemicals that are essential when using virgin
materials.
4. Recycling helps curb global warming. Using recycled materials cuts
down on energy used in the manufacturing process thereby reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. For example, recycling one ton of
glass results in energy savings of more than 300% and lowers carbon dioxide
emissions by 3.46 tons.
5. Recycling stems the flow of water pollution. Making goods from
recycled materials generates far less water pollution than manufacturing from
virgin materials. Turning trees into paper uses more water than any other
industrial process, dumping billions of gallons of wastewater, contaminated with
pollutants, into rivers, lakes and streams. Paper recycling mills don't pollute
the water nearly as much, and most likely uses less of it. In addition, some
recycling plants use treated wastewater for the manufacturing process.
6. Recycling reduces the need for landfills. Toxic pollution from
landfills including cyanide, dioxins, mercury, sulfuric acid and lead escapes
into the air and eventually leaches into groundwater.
7. Recycling reduces the need for incinerators. Often located in urban
neighborhoods, municipal waste incinerators spew out air pollutants and produce
contaminated ash that threatens the health of nearby residents. By recycling
paper, glass, plastic and metal, incinerators pollute less and reduce harmful
emissions.
8. Recycling creates jobs and promotes economic development. A recent
study by the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission found that
recycling added about $18.5 billion in value to the economies of 12 southern
states and Puerto Rico in 1995. A recycled newsprint mill in the Bronx, New York
started by Natural Resources Defense Council and a local community group created
600 permanent jobs, and cleaned up an industrial site abandoned for a quarter
century.
9. Cities may profit by selling recyclables. While landfills are
expensive operations, cities with high recycling rates often make money by
selling recyclables when market conditions are favorable.
10. Buying recycled products creates demand for more recycled products.
This will save even more resources, reduce pollution and protect human health,
and as the size of this market grows, prices for recycled products will drop.
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Source: this information was taken from the
Natural Resources Defense Council web site at http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/ften.asp,
and recyclingcolorado.edu.
Local recycling reduces costs for both the county and its
residents. Ray Lariviere of SE & East Central Recycling Association says
that the costs vary for each community, depending on who owns and maintains the
landfill in the area, but generally speaking, the cost of their recycling
program usually runs about $5.00 per ton while collection and disposal in a
landfill normally cost between $12.00 and $20.00 per ton.
What can I recycle, and where are the drop off sites?
In Trinidad, bins in the Big R parking lot accept magazines, catalogs and
newspaper, cardboard, and aluminum cans. This site is maintained by US Disposal
and Recycling. Also, the Las Animas County Rehabilitation Center at 1205
Congress Drive accepts aluminum cans. If you would like to have glass and tin
can recycling in Trinidad, please contact Elizabeth at (719) 680-1441 or email eliz@jondron.com.
She is in the process of collecting names to encourage the city of Trinidad to
increase its local recycling services. In Walsenburg, SE & East Central
Recycling Association provides bins next to city hall accepting office paper,
glass (clear, green, brown), newspaper, magazines, paper, aluminum and tin cans.
In Raton, bins for cardboard and numbers 1&2 plastics are located in the
city parking lot on First Street by the railroad station. White office paper can
be dropped off at the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Train office on First
Street and at the courthouse. Aluminum cans can be taken to CDD on E. Fourth
Avenue and All Saints Catholic School. The local PTA is recycling ink cartridges
and old cell phones at Raton Public Schools and All Saints Catholic School.
Raton Residents for Recycling hope to add newspaper recycling in the near
future. For a detailed list of recycle items and drop off locations, please
visit the public library.
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