Recycle

The last step in the three R's, is to RECYCLE! Recylcing is the process of converting used material into something new. For example we can convert paper into cardboard, plastic bottles into plastic crates, tires into playground flooring, and glass into bottles or jars. Electronics like computers, batteries, T.V.'s, and radios can all be recycled as well. Recycling is a lot easier than it used to be a few years ago. Most cities now provide curbside pickups for recycling as well as recycling centers or events within the city. Here are some interesting facts about recycling, brought to you by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo:

• Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
  
• You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.
  
• In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave 90,000 pounds of trash for his or her children.
  
• Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year.
  
• Each person generates on average 4.4 pounds of waste per day. Enough energy is saved by recycling one aluminum can to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.
  
• Annually, enough energy is saved by recycling steel to supply Los Angeles with electricity for almost 10 years. Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.
  
• Americans will throw away over 1,000,000 tons of aluminum cans and foil, more than 11,000,000 tons of glass bottles and jars, over 4,500,000 tons of office paper, and nearly 10,000,000 tons of newspaper.
  
• Recycling decreases the unemployment rate; incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates 1 job; land filling the same amount creates 6 jobs; recycling the same 10,000 tons creates 36 jobs.