America Recycles Day--Today!

Today is America Recycles Day.  Did you know:

The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. In other words, five percent of the world's people generate 40 percent of the world's waste.

We use more than 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year. (But because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than one percent of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates. And there is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can be recycled.)

The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.

Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres of space -- almost 40 football fields.

Obviously, we have a long way to go to improve our consumption and recycling habits.

Recognizing America Recycles Day (ARD) (a program of Keep America Beautiful) on November 15 is a great place to start. Since 1997, public and private organizations have dedicated the day to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products.

Today is a great day to start recycling, or, if you already are recycling--give yourself a pat on the back and keep up the good work.  Thank you for doing a good job!