Heroes
You Know That Water Bottle You Toss In The Recycling Bin? Here's The Truth About Where It Ends Up.
Sometimes it all feels so overwhelming that we think we can't make a difference. But you might be surprised.
12.24.14
Ever look around for a recycling bin for your water bottle but can't find one? It's annoying.
You think tossing a plastic bottle in the trash just this one time won't make a difference?
I know I've thought that way.
One bottle can make a big difference.
12% of all U.S. solid waste is plastic products. The good news is we can do something about it.
When recycled, it's ground down into flakes and cleaned.
Then it's melted into small pellets, which can be turned into new bottles.
This process is way more energy-efficient than making new bottles from raw materials.
That's great, but where did the bottles we throw in the trash end up?
In a landfill.
The average American uses 167 bottles a year.
The U.S. uses over 52 billion plastic bottles every year.
Only about 38 of the 167 bottles are recycled.
That means roughly 12 billion bottles are recycled around the country. Sounds good, right?
But there's still around 40 billion plastic bottles ending up in landfills each year.
This leads to the increase of greenhouse gas emissions.