The families who have today as a pickup garbage day in some parts of the midwest may find it a challenge to locate their recycling bins and garbage cans today. As the mild temperatures of the early Fall finally come to an end, many residents in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and other locations are dealing with November 18 winds that are reaching gusts of 50 miles an hour and temperatures that are dropping into the 30s. In some areas, in fact, the pickup garbage services and their customers may even be dealing with the first snows of the season.
Even when the wind is not blowing, the temperatures are not dropping, and the snow is not falling, the growing importance of the nation’s garbage and recycling efforts are on the minds of many. In a country that seems to have a love-hate relationship withe anything environmental, the waste management systems and recycling companies continue to find ways to make their services both more affordable and more responsible.
Did you know that in a lifetime the average American will throw away 600 times the amount of his or her adult weight in garbage? If you are a 200 pound couch potato reading this article, that means that you will likely generate as much as 120,000 pounds of garbage in the span of your life. And while it may have been the case 30 to 50 years ago to throw anything and everything away without a single thought, we now live in a time when many consumers are far more thoughtful. Consider the following industries that have grown from the basic pickup garbage truck services of the past.
How Much Does Your Family Focus on Its Recycling Efforts?
In some families, it can be the children who force the family to rethink the garbage they throw out every day and instead work toward recycling as much as they can. Did you know, for instance, that today in America over 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs? These convenient programs often increase the chances that your family will take the energy that it takes to consider recycling instead of just sending everything to the landfill. And while it takes the enthusiasm of the youngest family members to begin the recycling efforts in some homes, many Americans have been recycling whatever they can their entire lives. Whether you are a family new to the recycling world or it is a practice that has always been a part of your household, every effort makes a difference. For instance, even recycling one ton of cardboard saves more than nine cubic yards of landfill space.
And while our society may at times swing toward efforts to go paperless in some parts of our lives, we still have companies and individual households that consume a great deal of paper. Perhaps because of the results of the latest Presidential election and the reports that online “news” is becoming less and less reliable, an increasing number of Americans are again subscribing to newspapers. In fact, the New York TImes just reported that in the seven days since the November 8 election they have received a record number 41,000 subscriptions, some digital, some paper. The largest one week circulation since the online option was available, these new paper subscribers will likely contribute to the growing amount of recycling products.
Reduce, reuse, recycle may be a common phrase today, but it still encapsulates an effort that environmental agencies around the country try to promote. In fact, the waste management process now encompasses up to 20 different industries. A quick scan of the the internet, in fact, can provide a wide variety of products that are now being made from recycled products. When, for instance, the pickup garbage service that heads straight to the landfill is not the only option, old flip flops can be transformed into colorful doormats and plastic retrieved from the ocean can be woven into durable athletic shoes.
You do not need to live in a place where the snow is falling, and you do not have to wait for the wind to start blowing or for the temperatures to start dropping to rethink your family’s recycling efforts.