Molly - Virginia Tech
Greener
Trash Items (Brand in Parenthesis)
-Cheesy Skillets cardboard box (Velveeta)
-2 fun size bags of M&Ms (Mars)
-2 caramel wrappers (Werthers)
-3 soda cans (Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew)
-Peanut Butter jar (My Essentials)
-Water bottle (Great Value)
-Peanut Choco Crunch bars cardboard box (Nature’s Path Organic)
-Sour cream and onion chip bag (Utz)
-Sales tags from an item (Victoria’s Secret)
-Lip balm packaging (ChapStick)
-Receipt (Wal-Mart)
-Tissues (Kleenex)
-Fortune cookie wrapper (Golden Bowl)
-Pretzel Pieces bag (Snyder’s)
-Napkin (Mardi Gras)
-Scrap paper (unsure of brand)
-facial wipe (Simple)
Molly - Virginia Tech
Greener
1. One impact of what I tossed is that if the aluminum cans aren’t recycled and end up in a landfill, they
could likely be incinerated. This is not just a waste of aluminum, but it also releases toxic metals and
gases into the atmosphere that can add to the greenhouse gas effect and also harm human health.
2. Another impact of the trash I tossed is from the paper and cardboard products. One billion treesworth of paper are thrown away by Americans every year. If the paper items I used are thrown away,
the impact would be to add to the high volume of trees that are destroyed every year to create virgin
paper products. This has several impacts, including destroying the habits of many species and
contributing to high CO2 levels in the atmosphere because there aren’t enough trees to remove it from
the atmosphere.
Items to be recycled
-Cheesy Skillets cardboard box (Velveeta)
-3 soda cans (Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew)
-Peanut Butter jar (My Essentials)
-Water bottle (Great Value)
-Peanut Choco Crunch bars cardboard box (Nature’s Path Organic)
-Sales tags from an item (Victoria’s Secret)
-Lip balm packaging (ChapStick)
-Receipt (Wal-Mart)
-Fortune cookie wrapper (Golden Bowl)
-Scrap paper (unsure of brand)
Items to go to Landfill
-2 fun size bags of M&Ms (Mars)
-2 caramel wrappers (Werthers)
-Sour cream and onion chip bad (Utz)
-Tissues (Kleenex)
-Pretzel Pieces bag (Snyder’s)
-Napkin (Mardi Gras)
-facial wipe (Simple)
58% of the items I discarded can be recycled. 41% of the items I discarded will go to the landfill.
-Many of the items are going to the landfill are items like tissues and napkins that cannot be recycled
because they’ve had biological contact. It would be unsafe and unsanitary to recycle these items.
However, the other items aren’t the right kind of plastic that is recyclable. Many of the items I recycled
needed to be rinsed and cleaned before I recycled them.
-http://www.blacksburg.gov/Index.aspx?page=426 This is the website with information about recycling
in my town. I found it back when investigated recycling in an earlier challenge. I actually also contacted
the person in charge of recycling in my town to ask for a recycling container because my apartment did
not come equipped with one. I was informed that they were not provided to my area, so I had to go buy
one.
-After participating in that challenge and also this one, I realized that recycling could be encouraged
simply by the town distributing recycling containers. Although I bought one, many people wouldn’t
Molly - Virginia Tech
Greener
bother recycling if they have to buy a container. I also think recycling centers should distribute
information online about what items can be recycled and where. If people can easily access, they’ll be
more likely to recycle.
-On a different note, with the wellness challenge fresh in my mind from yesterday, this challenge also
made me reflect on my health. Carrying around that bag with all my trash made me a little embarrassed
about all the soda cans, candy wrappers and chip bags I consumed. As I’ve often seen from participating
in the Project Green Challenge this month, environmental protection is often combined with other
aspects of my life. Improving one area of my life often benefits the environmental friendliness of my life
as well. With this challenge, I realized if I stop drinking so much soda, I can use one reusable water
bottle all day and eliminate the amount of cans I use entirely while also benefitting my health. Also, if I
buy more items that aren’t individually wrapped, such as candy, I’ll not only generate less waste, but I’ll
also be more likely to pick healthier choices like fruits and vegetables. I couldn’t help but notice that all
the bad/unhealthy items I ate today had wrappers that went into my bag of waste, whereas the healthy
items like a glass of water, grapes or an apple had no waste or its waste could be composted. This
reflects all the benefits of being environmentally friendly that go beyond just protecting the health of
our environment. I’m glad this challenge gave me a chance to reflect about my health, an item that I
recently said caused me stress, and find a way to really put it in perspective and discover a healthy way
to solve that issue. I will now consider eating more items that don’t have wrappers or packaging, which
will not only benefit my health, but also decrease the amount of waste I produce.