Reuse
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average person contributes up to 4.40 pounds of waste per day.
Now multiply that by 7 billion.
That’s how much waste is contributed to the environment, per person, around the world every day. Since the emergence of going green, recycling programs have been implemented in many households, conversations, and workplaces across the nation, and here are a few reasons why:
- Chemicals and greenhouse gases are being released into the air due to landfills getting increasingly full by the minute.
- Deforestation destroys more and more natural environments daily, resulting in less oxygen to be produced by forests, plants, and other kinds of vegetation, as well as habitats being disrupted.
- Plastic affects every aspect of the environment, specifically microplastic. According to EarthDay.org, 236,000 tons of the 8 million tons in the ocean are microplastic – microscopic plastic particles no bigger than your fingernail.
Recycling not only reduces our need for landfills, but the need for new, raw material decreases, therefore preserving natural resources with every purchase you make.
The best part is that consumers like you agree. Several surveys show that “between 60 and 90 percent of North American consumers” are worried about the impact of their purchases, and that “86 percent are willing to pay extra” for common products. (New or recycled products: how much are consumers willing to pay?)
Click here to find out the various ways to recycle.