Environmental Club
Did You Know...
Listed below are monthly ways you can “reduce, reuse, and recycle”.
November
Did you know that if every home in the United States replaced just one light bulb with
one ENERGY STAR light bulb enough energy would be saved to light 3 million homes
for one year, $600 million dollars annually in energy costs would be saved, and
greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of 800,000 cars would be prevented?
ENERGY STAR light bulbs use 75% less energy than conventional light bulbs saving
$30 or more over the lifetime of the light bulb. You can make a difference by changing
just one light bulb!
Energy STAR light bulbs
December
Did you know that each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are
consumed worldwide? Billions end up as litter each year. In New York City alone if
every person used one less plastic grocery bag each year, solid waste would decrease by
109 tons and save over $11,000 in disposal costs. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they
photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and
waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest them. Hundreds
of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating
discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. Please consider purchasing an environmentally
friendly reusable grocery shopping bag for $1 from a member of the Environmental
Club!
Sources: Sierra Club, reusablebags.com
January
Did you know that each of us produces approximately 4 ½ lbs. of trash per day? Used
paper and paper products make up the largest proportion of our trash (about 40%). It
takes approximately 3688 pounds of wood, 28 billion Btus of energy, 216 pounds of
lime, 76 pounds of ash, 360 pounds of salt cake, and 24,000 gallons of water to make just
one ton of virgin, bleached paper. Please recycle, reuse, or reduce your use of paper
whenever possible!
Source: Connecticut DEP
February
Did you know that only 31% of plastic beverage containers are recycled? You can have a
positive effect on the environment when you: (1) Reduce the amount of plastic that is
discarded by recycling, (2) Reuse plastic containers by refilling just once to cut your use
in half, and (3) Recycle all plastic food containers!
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency
March
Did you know that Americans use 100 million steel cans and 200 million aluminum soda
cans every day? Many of these cans end up in landfills as waste. Steel can be recycled
and reused in new cars, steel girders for building, and of course food cans. It takes only
60 days for recycled aluminum cans to reappear on grocery shelves as a beverage can!
Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov
April
Did you know that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data for 2006 indicates
that only 30.7% of glass beverage containers were recycled in the United States? Glass
totaled 5.3% of all the solid waste produced in 2006 and glass is 100% recyclable! In as
little as 30 days, recycled glass will reappear on the grocery shelf. Additionally, glass
can be recycled over and over again without compromising the quality of the glass. You
can make a difference by placing you glass containers in the recycling bin rather than the
trash can.
Source: http://www.gpi.org/recycling/
May
Did you know that newspapers account for 6.5% of our municipal waste and are
completely recyclable? Recycled newspapers are reused as paper, shingles, animal
bedding, and insulation. Please do your part and recycle newspapers!
http://www.des.state.nh.us/factsheets/sw/sw-11.htm
Summer
Did you know that by turning the air conditioner setting 1 degree warmer, you can save
3% in energy costs for each degree? So…if you set the air conditioner for 75 degrees
instead of 72 you will save 9% in energy costs to cool your home!