Did
you know…?
• For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following is
saved: 7,000 gallons of water; 380 gallons of oil; and enough electricity
to power an average house for six months.
• You can run a TV for six hours on the amount of electricity
that is saved by recycling one aluminum can
• By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity
to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours
Ten
Ways to Go Green and Save 1. Re-route your commute. •
Walk or bike to work and save money on gas and parking while improving
your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.
• If you live far from your office, investigate the option of
telecommuting. Or move closer—even if this means paying more
rent, it could save you money in the long term.
• If your streets are not conducive to biking or walking, lobby
your municipal government to increase spending on sidewalks and bike
lanes. With little cost, these improvements can pay huge dividends
in decreased traffic and pollution.
2. Buy used.
• Whether you’ve just moved to a new area or are looking
to redecorate, consider a service like craigslist or FreeSharing to
track down furniture, appliances, and other items, rather than buying
them new. Check out garage sales and thrift stores for clothing and
other everyday items.
• Use your creativity in gift giving, including making homemade
gifts, donating to a good cause, or even regifting. (And gift green,
in general.)
• Your purchasing habits have a real impact, for better or worse.
When making new purchases, make sure you know what’s “Good
Stuff” and what isn’t.
Click
here for the entire list.Shopping
Green
A family of four can save $3,000 a year
simply by buying products in the largest size they can use and by
buying long lasting reusable items. Think about the effect of your
purchases on the environment when you shop. Items with excess packaging
and products that need to be discarded after only a few uses cost
more money, use up valuable resources and create more waste.
• Buy products in the largest size you can use; avoid excess
packaging.
• Buy products in containers that you know you will be able
to recycle.
• Buy reusable and long lasting items.
Click
here for more shopping tips!Fast
Facts
• Switching its tour bus to biodiesel reduced rock band Guster's
CO2 emissions by 100,000 pounds a year.
• If all U.S. households received and paid their bills online,
it would eliminate more than 800,000 tons of waste each year.
• An energy-efficient home saves up to $400 a year in utility
costs.
• Americans throw away almost 100 billion plastic bags each
year; only 1 to 3 percent are recycled.
• U.S. airports and airlines discard enough aluminum cans each
year to build 58 Boeing 747s.
Recycling
• In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about
64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators.
Today, this country recycles 32% of its waste, a rate that has almost
doubled during the past 15 years.
• While recycling has grown in general, recycling of specific
materials has grown even more drastically: 50 percent of all paper,
34 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum
beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67
percent of all major appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed
in the United States, which collected several materials at the curb.
By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside programs had sprouted up across the
nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials recovery facilities had been
established to process the collected materials.
•
Walk or bike to work and save money on gas and parking while improving
your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity. 
Recycling
