America Recycles Day and how we can keep America beautiful.
By Jake Richards, IT Specialist Individual Placement / AmeriCorps Member placed at Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Trails
Every year, November 15th is America Recycles Day. The holiday is promoted by the organization Keep America Beautiful as a central point for organizations promoting recycling across the country to rally around. The holiday started in 1994 in Texas by a group of state government officials, where they encouraged their communities to recycle all their paper and aluminum goods. After witnessing the success of the program in the state, the Texan officials brought their idea to the national level, presenting the program to the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and then the EPA. The two federal organizations loved how the holiday had grown so far (by 1997 over 40 states had participated) and the momentum for the holiday grew and grew until 1999, when President Clinton made the holiday a national observance.
Over the past 25 years since the official observance, the NRC and Keep America Beautiful have emphasized different themes of recycling to educate the public on the various aspects of environmental stewardship through recycling. The theme for the 2020’s is “Individual Action” which highlights the decisions we can make in our daily lives to help us be more effective stewards of our planet. With that in mind, here are 3 tips that you can start doing today, to help you more effectively recycle!
- Observe and follow product labels related to recycling.
While it may be simple to put old paper or used aluminum goods in the recycle, other items such as plastic bottles or items related to food can have specific labels on them that determine their ability to be recycled. When recycling these items, be sure to look for recycling related labels on the bottom or sides of plastic goods to determine if you can recycle them. An easy rule of thumb is a 1 or 2 means good to go and anything between 3-7, check with your local city ordinance.
- Be conscious of your local recycling capabilities.
Connecting to the prior tip, across the nation, cities, states, and municipalities are allowed to create laws related to how and what they want to recycle. When deciding if you should recycle a good or not, be sure to visit your local governmental bodies rules and regulations related to what they will accept as recycling and what you’ll have to throw out (or repurpose in some way!)
- Washing is not required!
When recycling a food item, while it is important to try and thoroughly remove as much of the food item as possible, you are not required to fully wash out the product. For example, if you were looking to recycle a glass jar full of jelly, do your best to scrape the jelly out but once you have done that it is good to recycle!
Hopefully these tips can help you become a better recycler and overall environmental steward of our planet!
Sources
www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/america-recycles-day
kab.org/10-tips-to-recycle-more-every-day/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Recycles_Day
