Since 1997, communities across the country have come together on November 15 for America Recycles Day — the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling in the U.S.
Now it’s easier to figure out what items can be recycled and what can’t by using a database searchable by locality here at Earth911.com.
Other websites help citizens navigate the tangle of recycling opportunities and identify the difference between corrugated cardboard and common food cartons, hazardous waste and disposable waste.
Check out the Recyclo-pedia that lists facts about how to recycle batteries, electronics and medicines.
What can be accomplished when we all work together? Here are some Fun Facts:
- The EPA has concluded that recycling efforts reduced the country’s carbon emissions by a net 49 million metric tonnes in 2005.
- In the United Kingdom, the Waste and Resources Action Programme stated that Great Britain’s recycling efforts reduce CO2 emissions by 10-15 million tonnes a year.
- The Energy Information Administration estimates that “a paper mill uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from fresh lumber.”
- Recycling aluminum cans saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source, bauxite. (EPA)
- In 2009 more than half of all aluminum cans produced came from recycled aluminum.
- People who had friends and neighbors that recycled were much more likely to also recycle than those who didn’t have friends and neighbors recycling.
LEARN more at AmericaRecyclesDay.org.