Celebrate Earth Day.....Every Day
Small changes make a BIG difference.
by Lonye Gilles
April 18, 2009
Our recycling program is becoming more successful as staff and students become more aware of what can be recycled and where to put those items--into recycle bins instead of garbage cans. There are different studies on how long items remain in landfills before biodegrading, but the average times are listed below:
Paper-2.5 months; Tin Can-50 years; Plastic food containers-60 years; Aluminum Can-100 years; soda bottle-400 years; Glass bottle--500 years; Styrofoam-never.
Except for styrofoam, all of these items are being saved for recycling through our school recycling program. What could have been garbage will now be turned into new products.
Old Life New Life
Glass Road Asphalt
Plastic bottles Shoelaces, diaper bags
Newspapers Wallets, combs, pencils
Just to name a few........................
Small and simple changes can really make big differences in conservation.
Use cloth reusable bags for shopping instead of plastic ones.
Shop for locally grown organic produce.
Shorten your shower by a few minutes.
Turn your thermostat down 1 or 2 degrees.
Wash laundry in cold water instead of warm and warm water instead of hot.
Turn out lights, t v's, radios, computers, etc when they are not being used or needed.
Switch your regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs.
Take your lunch in a reusable lunch bag or box and put food items into washable containers instead of baggies.
Use the back of paper for scratch pads.
Share newspapers and magazines with family, friends, neighbors.
There are hundreds of ways to conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle. Use the internet to research them all!
Doing this saves this.
Recycling your Sunday paper every week........Keeps 4 trees alive per year and increases Earth's oxygen.
Cut one 20-mile car trip each week.............Prevents more than 1,200 pounds of greenhouse gas from being emitted and adding to global warming.
Recycle a six-pack of aluminum cans every week..................Saves enough energy to power a television for 936 hours.
Cut 5 minutes from your daily shower..................Saves up to 9,000 gallons of water.
Sources: Environmental Defense Fund, EPA, National Recycling Coalition
Even though the official Earth Day is April 22, we plan to do our share to keep Planet Earth healthy all year long. Please work together to make environmental awareness a big part of your family tradition. We will all benefit form the outcome.
