Uncovering The Truth About Recycling For a Waste Conscious Global Recycling Day
This weekend we celebrate Global Recycling Day, a day created to help recognize, and celebrate, the importance recycling plays in preserving our primary resources and securing the future of our planet. It is a day for the world to come together and put the planet first.
Recycling is a key part of the circular economy, helping to protect our natural resources. Each year recyclables save over 700 million tons in CO2 emissions. There is no doubt recycling is on the front line in the war to save the future of our planet.
Today, the recycling rate in the US remains as low as 35%. The problem with recycling is that there is a cloud of mystery surrounding our recycling practices. One of the biggest challenges is that every state, city and metropolitan area has a different approach to recycling. What can be recycled in Brooklyn, New York is different than what can be recycled in Waco, Texas.
A survey conducted by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) found that 66% of Americans would NOT recycle a product if it’s not easy or inconvenient to do so. So it seems the key to getting on the same page about recycling is to continued education and ultimately convenience.
Here are 5 things we encourage you to start doing in your own homes for Global Recycling Day:
Do a deep dive into the recycling laws in your city
Only put clean, dry items in your recycling bin
Encourage + hold your friends accountable on following through with recycling practices
Reuse the top 5 sources of single-use plastic: plastic bags, water bottles, to-go containers + cups, and straws
Start the transition to a more waste conscious lifestyle
A waste conscious lifestyle means becoming more conscious of the waste we generate, which then leads us to become more conscious of our consumption habits. For some, it means composing, recycling, and reusing things. For others, it means reducing consumption overall.
One of the biggest opportunities for waste conscious living is monitoring plastic usage. This year 5 trillion plastic bags will be consumed. That’s 160,000 bags a second! It gets worse… each of these 5 trillion plastic bags will take up to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill.
One quick and easy transition you can make to limit your plastic consumption today is to make the switch to biodegradable trash bags. BioNatur's 13-gallon kitchen trash bags are high-quality, industrial-strength, and fully biodegradable in a landfill environment, which is where 91% of your trash ends up. How? BioNatur Plastics uses an organic enzyme that naturally attracts occurring anaerobic bacteria in the landfill to digest the enzymes and break down large plastic molecules into smaller organic molecules that bacteria recognize as food, such as inert humus, gasses, and water. This process repeats until it is fully biodegraded, typically in 5-10 years*, with the creation of zero microplastics.
It really is that easy to be the change you want to see in the world. Purchase yours today and relish in fact that you are one step closer to waste conscious living.
Purchase your BioNatur Trash Bags here.
*ASTM D5511 testing shows LDPE products up to 44% biodegraded in 934 days. ASTM D5526 testing shows LDPE products up to 36.6% biodegraded in 391 days.