As people try to shift to more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyles, they are starting to focus on waste removal and management practices. Ordinary people, cities and municipalities, and waste management companies are all starting to pay attention to the 3Rs. These are strategies that can help to minimize waste and our impact on the environment. Recycling can play an important part in reducing waste.
What are the 3Rs?
Reduce, reuse, recycle. These are the three strategies for waste management that can help to minimize waste and reduce our negative impact on the environment. Our planet is quite literally drowning in a sea of trash produced by human activity. Over a lifetime, each American will produce garbage that weighs more than 600 times his or her own body weight. On a daily basis, Americans produce an average of four pounds of garbage.
Following the Three Rs can help us to reduce the amount of waste we produce, and to live a more sustainable lifestyle that is better for the environment. They represent a hierarchy of strategies, beginning with the most desirable and effective. Waste removal companies also offer services that support these strategies. They are at the forefront of the effort to live more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Why recycle?
Over time many people begin to suffer from recycling burnout, and decide that their individual efforts just aren’t going to make enough of a difference. The truth is that it does matter, and every little bit helps. For one thing, it’s actually costs less to recycle materials than to process trash. The cost of recycling materials is $30 a ton as compared to $50 for every ton of trash that is sent to the landfills. And it makes a real difference – recycling just one ton of cardboard frees up of nine cubic yards of landfill space.
Materials like plastic, glass, paper, metal, and cardboard can all be recycled. The recycled materials are used to produce new items, such as new plastic doormats from recycled plastic bottles. Most paper products nowadays, from bath tissue to greeting cards and new books, contain some percentage of recycled materials. This benefits the environment in two different ways. First, by reusing materials, the amount of garbage headed to the landfills is reduced. Second, it reduces the need to produce more raw materials like paper, plastic, and glass, along with the expenditure of energy that entails.
How to recycle
Most cities and towns now have curbside recycling pick up along with their weekly trash removal services. Smaller towns may have drop-off locations for recycling. At this time the vast majority of Americans, or 87%, now have access to either curbside pick-up or drop-off recycling services. Whichever type of service you use, it’s imporatnt to rinse out all containers before putting them out for recycling.
The 3Rs of waste removal can help to minimize waste produced by individuals and households, reducing their impact on the environment. Most people have access to some kind of recycling services, with either curbside pick-up or drop-off locations.
