How to Recycle Practically Anything

No matter where you live, you can recycle a wide range of discards...perhaps more than you realize. In the May/June issue of E: The Environment Magazine, Sally Deneen in "How to Recycle Practically Anything" tells you just that and provides a guide to help you recycle all those items you can' t bear to throw away.

The recycling industry has evolved since the mid-1990s and now not only can you recycle more things, but your discards are very much in demand.

"Without recycling, given current virgin raw material supplies, we could not print the daily newspaper, build a car, or ship a product in a cardboard box.... Recycling is not some feel-good activity; it is one of the backbones of global economic development," states Jerry Powell, editor of Resource Recycling magazine.

FACT: Recycling one aluminum can conserves 300 watt-hours, enough to run a 100-watt bulb for three hours. It talks five percent of the energy to make a new aluminum can out of an old can compared to making a new can out of raw materials.

FACT: 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 a legacy of as much as 100,000 pounds of trash for his or her children.

For more information:
Container Recycling Institute
Earth 911
Electronics & Books Recycling Days in Kane County, IL.
Illinois Recycling Association
Recycle Electronics @ Illinois Locations