What do you get after spending over three hours on the beach the night of Memorial Day? About 10 bags of recycling. Through the month of May, I spent every Sunday picking through garbage cans (I wore gloves), and collect all the recyclables. I’m not going to lie, it’s dirty, but it boggles my mind just how much recycling gets thrown out on St. Pete Beach, particularly on holidays. The images below show just a small sample of the recyclables to be thrown out… Imagine how much I could have collected with an entire team. The garbage cans we went through were overflowing, and probably 70% of the contents were bottles and cans.
You know it’s funny, St. Petersburg was designated the first “Green City” in Florida… I think Florida has a long way to go. Recycling bins next to each garbage bin on the beach would be such a simple solution. If you go to a city like Seattle, their recycling bins are much larger than their garbage cans, and if you leave too much recycling in your garbage can, the sanitation workers won’t take your garbage.
A couple of quick facts for you:
Florida generates over 29 million tons of solid waste per year. If you’re the typical Florida resident, you throw away 10 pounds of trash a day. Now you can recycle some of that trash and help mother earth.
RECYCLE GLASS
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose. Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.
RECYCLE ALUMINUM
Twenty recycled aluminium cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one.
RETHINK BOTTLED WATER
Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA’s standards for bottled water.
PLASTIC BAGS SUCK
Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are making their way into our oceans, and subsequently, the food chain. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive and readily available option.
These fact were complements of Wire & Twine – 50 Ways to Help the Planet
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