PVCC Puma Press: December 2006

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	AP Phot
	The writer discovered that each year she uses eight pounds of Styrofoam plates and nearly 100 pounds of paper towels, toilet paper, and tissue. None of these are recyclable.
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The United States is arguably the most prosperous nation in the world. We have freedoms, education, homes and medical care that are unrivaled throughout the world. We have shoes, cars and food. We are a very fortunate society, no matter what shortcomings we have as a nation.

As a prosperous nation with great opportunities, why is it that we Americans waste so much of our natural resources? We simply throw things away, without consideration of where they came from or what was lost to create them. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 80 percent of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28 percent. Although the U.S. makes up 5 percent of the world’s population, we are responsible for 30 percent of its garbage. This is completely unacceptable, and our planet cannot keep up. More and more nations with high populations are developing the same quality of life as the U.S., and they are also developing the equivalent amounts of trash.

Our waste practices as a nation are devastating for the environment, not to mention more expensive for us as consumers. For example, it costs more to mine, chop, mill and prepare products than it does to recycle materials that have already been through the process. When it costs more to create products, it costs more for us to buy them. Even knowing that, we still continue to waste natural resources like wide-eyed children who don’t think about where products come from and what the impacts are to toss them frivolously into landfills.

Many people think they don’t have the ability to impact the planet in any sense. They think that one single car can’t destroy the environment, and one person changing waste management habits is nothing compared to the big picture. Just to argue this point, I decided to see exactly what one person throws away. I also decided to find out how much of that trash can be recycled and what cannot be recycled due to municipal restrictions. Here’s what I did: I weighed everything I threw away or recycled for one week. As a person ever concerned about the environmental and an avid recycler, I was stunned at the results that “weighed in.”

Every year at home and at my job, I go through approximately one ton or 2,000 pounds of paper, with mail making up 600 pounds of the total. I recycle roughly 2/3 of it (around 650 pounds). There is still another 1/3 that can’t be recycled, because it has to be shredded and my city forbids shredded paper.

Each year, I go through eight pounds of Styrofoam plates, four pounds of plastic forks and knives and around four pounds of napkins. Paper towels, toilet paper and tissue add up to nearly 100 pounds per year. None of these items is recyclable (according to my city), and it will all be wasted.

I also weighed items such as gum wrappers, glass (which my city doesn’t recycle, either) and other non-recyclable items. Between my home and job, I estimate I will throw about 1,500 pounds of garbage straight into landfill, and that is just under the U.S. average because I’m already a little careful, and I compost some items like coffee filters for use in a garden. My total consumption is 3,500 pounds of recyclable and non-recyclable items per year. That’s more than the weight of my car.

The student body of PVCC represents a very small corner of the world, but at about 8,700 students, calculated with my own rate of consumption, that adds up to just over 30 million pounds of recyclable and non-recyclable trash items per year!

According to Trash to Cash, recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution.

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	If each person at PVCC used just one less ream of paper per year we would be using about 40,000 pounds less paper
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Environment aside, the economic benefits to recycling are immense. According to Colorado Recycles, the recycling industry sustains six times as many jobs as landfills. The White House Task Force on Recycling claims that recycling and remanufacturing activities could account for approximately one million manufacturing jobs and more than $100 billion in revenue.

It is vital for our planet and our own sustained quality of life that each of us works harder to recycle and reduce consumption. If each one of us at PVCC used just one less ream of paper per year (5 pounds), we would be using about 40,000 pounds less paper. This adds up to 340 trees, 40 barrels of oil, 64 cubic yards of landfill space and 1,200 pounds of air pollution. Think of what these numbers would look like if more efforts were made. Each one of us has the ability to make drastic environmental impacts, and it is so easy for each of us to choose impacts that are positive. This planet no longer has the capacity to deal with our conveniences and over-consumption. You alone can make a difference and the time to act is now.

Here are some simple tips for creating a more sustainable world. They won’t cost you a lot of time, and you will also save money:

• Reuse water bottles. You will save many pounds of plastic each year.

• Reduce your use of paper products. You can do this by using more cloth towels at home, electronic documents when possible and by simply monitoring how much you are going through.

• Reuse grocery bags or buy canvas ones. You can buy canvas bags at whole food stores such as Sprouts, and many stores offer money back for not using their bags. If you reuse paper bags, they can be recycled after they wear out.

• If you are printing articles or documents for reading or editing, print on paper that has already been used on one side and then recycle it.

• Try to get off of junk mail lists.

• Reduce your consumption of processed and/or fast food. Wrappers, bags and container weights really add up, and it’s healthier to skip the drive-thru.

• Recycle anything and everything you can. If you are not near a recycling receptacle, hold on to your items and recycle at home. Make it a daily practice.

• Use recycled products. Many paper products are already recycled, and the packaging will usually let you know.

The Waste Authority in Eastern Montgomery County, PA, has a great website that has compiled more staggering facts about recycling from many organizations. I strongly encourage you to visit it at www.wsaemc.org/Recycling/. Click on recycling facts at the bottom right of the page.