Reminders

Reminders for myself when I'm not sure any of this matters:

 

Recycle

- Each year, over 3.2 million tons of electronic waste is put in US landfills

- Only 12.5% of e-waste is currently recycled.

- For every 1 million cell phones that are recycled, 35,274 lbs of copper, 772 lbs of silver, 75 lbs of gold, and 33 lbs of palladium can be recovered.

- Recycling 1 million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year.

- E-waste is still the fastest growing municipal waste stream in America, according to the EPA.

- It takes 530 lbs of fossil fuel, 48 lbs of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor.

- Electronic items that are considered to be hazardous include, but are not limited to: Televisions and computer monitors that contain cathode ray tubes, LCD desktop monitors, LCD televisions, Plasma televisions, Portable DVD players with LCD screens. (source)

 

 

 

 Compost

In 2005, an estimated 245.7 million tons of municipal

solid wastes were generated in the United States, that’s

4.5 pounds per person per day. Organic materials—

comprised of yard trimmings, food scraps, wood waste,

paper and paperboard products—are the largest

component of our trash and make up about two-thirds of

the solid waste stream.....Yard

trimmings and food residuals by themselves constitute

24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream...  
(basically this whole article is great.)

 

 

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitors the materials that make up the municipal solid waste, or MSW, going into landfills. In 2010, more than half of all MSW was made up of compostable materials (see References 1). Food waste is especially problematic, because food in landfills decomposes in the absence of air. This anaerobic process produces methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. According to the EPA's figures, landfills account for a full 20 percent of America's methane production (see References 1). Composting these materials would remove millions of tons from the waste stream. (source)

Limit Plastics 

 

The usefulness of plastic bags is extremely limited, yet according to one estimate, somewhere between five billion and one trillion plastic bags are used each year around the world.

 

Much of the plastic that’s polluting the oceans is microplastics, tiny chunks that are next to impossible to filter out. These plastics can come from bigger items breaking down, but they are also commonly added to consumer products like face wash and toothpaste. These little beads are intended to be exfoliators, but many wastewater treatment facilities aren’t able to stop them. There are many biodegradable alternatives, so avoid items with “polypropylene” or “polyethylene” on the ingredients list.

 

 

Climate Change and Waste

Most people don't realize that waste is linked with global climate change. How? The manufacture, distribution and use of products - as well as management of the resulting waste - use energy and release greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane that contribute to climate change.

• By recycling your waste, you reduce the amount of materials that need to be manufactured, thereby reducing energy use and, thus, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas.
  
  
• Organic materials like food, paper, wood and yard waste can break down in landfills, producing methane emissions. Methane is another, even stronger greenhouse gas.
  
  
• In addition, reducing, reusing and recycling wood products can leave more trees standing, allowing forests to continue to store, rather than releasing carbon dioxide.