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By Cara Beth Lewis

Today is America Recycles Day. Recycling contributes to American prosperity and a healthy environment for American citizens. Simple acts and better habits can make a huge impact, especially when everyone pitches in.

Recycling has many benefits. Listed below are benefits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Benefits of Recycling

Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.
Conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals.
Increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials.
Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials.
Saves energy.
Supports American manufacturing and conserves valuable resources.
Helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States.

Recycling can be implemented in all areas of life — at home, at work, at school, and in your community. Reducing waste, reusing items, and recycling, we can make the world around us more beautiful.

In Bladen County, the Keep Bladen Beautiful committee consists of volunteers from the county who are interested in promoting the mission of Keep Bladen Beautiful — The mission is pretty self-explanatory, as their number one goal is to keep our county beautiful, and make it even better. Sondra Guyton was formerly Chair of this group, but now Tracy Smith has taken on the role. This is a volunteer-based group that is always happy to have volunteers.

A study in 2016 by the EPA shows that in a single year, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for:

681,000 jobs
$37.8 billion in wages; and
$5.5 billion in tax revenues.

This equates to 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled.

Many people recycle, however, many people are not completely sure what is and is not recyclable. Educating yourself on recyclable items and non recyclable items can make a huge difference. For more information on what to recycle and how to recycle it, click here: How Do I Recycle?

Recycling simple, everyday items such as paper and plastic can save a large amount of energy. The EPA says, “The materials that you recycle are used to create the products you buy. This means less virgin material needs to be mined or harvested, processed, manufactured and transported – all of which consume energy.”

The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year. Every item that is recycled helps turn this large amount of waste into something good, useful, and better for the environment.

Today, on America Recycles Day, and every other day, we should all do our part to recycle and make Bladen more beautiful.