Tips & Facts
Please browse the information below for waste reduction tips and facts provided by http://www.re3.org.
Reduce the amount of stuff you buy, reuse when you can, and recycle or compost the rest.
Waste Reduction Tips
- Double-side copy and use old sheets as scratch paper for notes.
- Minimize paper use by distributing info electronically.
- Buy recycled content products.
- Reuse notebooks, folders, hanging file folders, cardboard, pasteboard, plastic bottles, plastic bags, etc. There are many resources online for inspiration.
- Use a reusable coffee mug or cup instead of disposables. 350 million pounds of coffee cups end up in landfills every year.
- Pack lunches in reusable containers.
- Take Tupperware to restaurants or ask for aluminum foil for leftovers.
- Shop with reusable shopping bags.
- Donate unwanted items to a local thrift or charity.
- Share ideas with a friend!
Facts
- North Carolina fills enough trash dumpsters to reach from Boone to Bald Head every 47 days.
- Almost 80 percent of U.S. paper mills rely on recovered recycled paper. In fact it supplies 37 percent of their material.
- In a year, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the Blue Ridge Pkwy 642 times.
- One ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees.
- Glass bottles can be used hundreds of times over to make new bottles. North Carolina has three glass plants capable of consuming thousands of tons of "cullet" or recovered glass.
- Recycling an aluminum can saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from virgin materials.
