Resources: Reusable, Recyclable, Landfill

When you buy paper plates, plastic forks, or plastic cups do you ever think about reusing, recycling or throwing away these materials?

Some people call our generations: "the throw away" generation because we consume so many materials that we don't think about where these materials go when we throw them away.  What do we throw away?  Phones! Computers! Batteries! Cars! Shoes! Clothes!  Everything we don't want we either throw away or sell to someone else.

In some countries they use waterways to dump their garbage.  Eventually it will get to the ocean?  In the United States we use "landfills". 

Workers push the garbage into a big mountain, or bury it under older garbage and let nature break down the materials.  What we throw away matters.  Paper products will degrade quickly, cloth will decay pretty quick...but plastics and metals?  Not so much, it takes years for those materials to break down into smaller pieces. 

We have machines that help us "shred" larger metals and materials:

The pieces are smaller, but the metal stays metal and the rubber doesn't change to another material, it stays rubber.  These smaller pieces are taken to the landfill.  How many landfills can we fill up?

When products are made or engineered these three environmental issues should be uppermost in our minds...can we reuse the material?  Can we recycle the material, or will it end up in a landfill?

In our quest to reach the heights of technology, earn as much money as we can and enjoy as much of life that it has to offer, we should always be aware that living on the Earth is a privilege and we shouldn't take for granted the purity of our world.

We've heard about not using plastic straws, but the whole point is, can we reuse it? Or recycle it?  If we can find plates that we can use and reuse, they are much better than plates we have to throw away.  Recycling requires more responsibility and a higher work ethic.  We need to wear our clothes until they wear out! If they don't fit, or have holes? Recycle them.  Make a new shirt, a new dress, a new quilt using those clothes that are hidden in your closet. 

Recycle your phone. Recycle your T.V.'s.

It might be a sacrifice for some to reuse and recycle, but so very worth it in the long run.