Yesterday was National Recycle Day (Nov. 15th)

 

This is the article I wrote for the paper to be published Wednesday.  Since not too many  people saw it, I thought I would put it in my blog for today. Got to get some press out of it.

National Recycle Day 2012

Rosemary Kent

Tomorrow is National Recycle Day.  I don’t think that it gets the attention that Mothers’ Day does, but there has, none the less, been a day set aside for recycling in America.  Actually, I noticed that in Australia an entire week is devoted to recycling.  But a day is a good start.

However, it is just like with Mothers’ Day when the child quips, ”What, I only need to be good to Mom one day a year?”.  Well, it might be a good place to start if you haven’t been treating her very well in the past.  Likewise, if you haven’t given much thought about how you treat the waste you throw in the trash that ends in the landfills; maybe National Recycle Day is a good place to start.

In the AARP Magazine for November there was a short interview with the actor, Jeremy Irons, regarding recycling. He wanted to know why more isn’t being done to encourage the plastics industry to convert to products that are truly biodegradable.  My question is how much conversation is there about using the plastic waste we have to turn into new products rather than using raw materials?

Did you know that in America, only one in five plastic water bottles is recycled?  Did you also know that we actually import from Canada recycled plastic to make new products?  There seems to be some kind of a conundrum here.  We don’t have enough of our own waste that we have to import it?  No, I think the problem lies in not doing a better job of recycling the waste we make.

Just as there are sons and daughters who treat their mother very well, there are people who take recycling very seriously and do a great job.  They realize that taking a moment to save up their newspapers, aluminum cans and plastic is time well spent.  They know that doing a little reconnaissance to find what recycling programs are available in the community and what they take is worthwhile information to acquire. They know that what they personally do to help increase the amount of our waste that is recycled really does make a difference.

So for those who are already recycling, well done!  But, don’t stop there.  Introduce a friend or relative to recycling, too.  Spread the word.  Let’s multiple our efforts and challenge ourselves to become a country that can produce enough of our own recycled waste to keep industries in materials without depleting our natural resources and building more landfills . Wouldn’t it be great if we treated our environment with respect all year and every year for ever?  Just like our Moms.