Home Recycle Bins and The Benefits of Recycling

It is pretty important that we all get in the habit of recycling our paper, plastic, and glass materials. If you sat down and really thought about how much your throw away that is recyclable, you would probably be astounded. You can recycle your laundry detergent bottles, plastic soap bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles, body wash containers, soda cans and bottles, glass sauce containers, soup cans, and tons of other stuff.

Home recycling is something that adults should teach their children, or children should teach their parents/guardians because recycling at home is a simple step in the right direction of  changing our environment for the better. All you need is a simple home recycling container.

Before you get started, though, sit down and think about what you throw away, you'll be amazed as to what you can actually recycle.

Recycling is very simple. All you need is a recycling bin that you can set out by the road, and your goods will get picked up. It's so simple, and you're not only helping the environment, but you're helping the economy.

Helps Economy

When you think of the potential benefits of recycling, you're first thought is probably the environmental benefits, but believe it or not, recycling has its economic benefits, too.

• Recycling programs can cost less than picking up garbage, landfiling, and incinerating.
• The more people that recycle and the more that is recycled, the cheaper it gets.
• Recycling can help you save money, especially if you live in a community that has a pay-as-you through program implemented.
• Recycling programs can save the community money because there are more options to make the program more cost-effective, such as recycling rates, implementing pay-as-you-throw programs, and waste management contracts.
  
• More jobs are created and gross annual sales can increase by implementing a good recycling program.
• Companies can save money through voluntary recycling programs.

Saves Resources

• For every one ton of newspaper that is recycled, we can save about 12 trees, 24 trees can be saved by recycling one ton of office paper. That same one ton of paper can also preserve 6953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space, and about 4077 kilowatts an hour of energy.
• By recycling one ton of plastic, we can save 1000-2000 gallons of gasoline.
• When you recycle one ton of steel, you save 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.
• We can conserve more natural resources such as wood, water, and minerals by recycling.

Saves Energy

• One glass bottle can save enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours, and one pound of steel can power a 60 watt light bulb for a full day.
  
• By recycling, we save energy that would otherwise be needed to make things from raw materials. For instance, it takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than to make it from raw materials. Steel saves 60%, newspaper 40%, plastics 70%, and glass saves 40%.
• Recycling helps to save energy, which can in turn help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
• By making recycled paper, 64% less energy is used than from making paper from timber.
  

Reduce Pollution

• By recycling as much as we can, air and water pollution can be decreased, to include green house gas emissions.
• By manufacturing recycled paper, we're reducing air pollution by about 75% and water pollution by 35%.
  

Reduce Landfill Space

• Recycling and composting can reduce waste material in the landfills and incinerators by several million tons.

Protect Land

• Recycling reduces the need for mining and logging, which can be a very dangerous occupations, and by reducing mining operations, ecosystems and natural forests can be preserve.
• Soil erosion can be decreased by recycling.
• If everyone recycled their morning paper in the United States for just one day, we can save 41,000 trees and about 6 million tons of waste from ending up in the landfills.
• Everyone in the United States receives enough junk mail to save about 1 and a half tress a year, so if 100,000 people stopped their junk mail, about 150,000 trees would not get cut down a year for paper production.

Although, you probably won't be able to recycle a full one ton of steel or paper, you can do your part to helping out. You can put in your portion of one ton and with your neighbor's helping and their neighbor's helping, you can help pull off one ton of paper, plastic, and glass.

If you can do your part in recycling what you use, you are doing so much more than a person not recycling. Never doubt that your one recycle bin a week is not helping reduce the waste in your local landfill because it is.

As you have seen there are so many benefits to recycling, and by doing your part at home, you are one step closer to helping our economy and environment.

You can purchase stackable recycling bins that you can put in the corner of your home, making recycling more organized in your home. It's much simpler to have a small setup in the house where you can put your recyclable goods until you're ready to take them outside for pickup.

You may not have room for a larger inside recycling bin, so an alternate option is to use larger recycling bags to store your goods until you can take them outside. You can fold them up when they're not in use, wash them if something spills in them, and take them on trips so that you can still practice your recycling habits when out of town.

The home recycling center holds 17 gallons of recyclables. There is a 10 gallon bin for glass, metal, and plastic, and a 5 gallon bin for paper. There's also a 2 gallon bin in the front for batteries, ink cartridges, or spare bin liners. You can set a reminder for recycling your stuff, whether it be weekly or bi-monthly.

This is a great home recycling bin that does not look trashy and can actually make recycling fun for children. It's even a nice organizational teaching method.