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The Hidden Reason Why You Should Recycle Paper

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It does not take ecological genius to understand why it is important to try and recycle paper. We are all regularly exposed to the problems caused by deforestation, by humble trees and forests being decimated to satisfy the world’s demands for paper materials. If one chooses to dig a little deeper, stories of how local economies that once relied on the forests at their periphery have been effectively destroyed and become destitute due to the loss of their livelihood. We may even be aware of how damaging deforestation is from an environmental point of view.  For this reason, the past decade has seen an increased push from those in the know, to try and persuade the general populace to recycle paper more. Recycled paper, we are informed by people who know, is part of the answer to the problem of deforestation. The more that paper is recycled, the less trees have to be cut down afresh – and that is undeniably a good thing.

Yet there is a further reason beyond the very genuine cause of deforestation that makes a compelling case for every person to take it upon themselves to recycle paper. The problems caused by so-called greenhouse gases are a continued reason for what scientists are calling climate change – a change in the heat of the earth which could have devastating effects for the planet and its people. One of the most potent contributors to greenhouse gas is methane; and when paper is put in to a landfill rather than recycled, it bio-degrades. That might sound like a good thing, but the biodegrading process produces methane – and the atmosphere takes the hit.

So by the simple act of recycling any paper you have, you are not only protecting forests and the welfare of local economies – you’re saving the environment, too.

Yes you can Recycle

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One of the most successful schemes of anti-environmentalists is to portray the people who have concerns for the environment as being part of some kind of cult. The idea is that by doing this, it is possible to make everything an environmentalist says seem like some kind of apocalyptic vision. It is even more sophisticated than that, though, because we will often hear of the green movement pouring “propaganda” into the ears of unwitting children. When those kind of charges are flying around you can rest assured that mud will stick.

Benefits of Recycling

Nonetheless, it is not indoctrination to tell your child about the benefits of recycling. After all, these benefits are something that they will profit from later on in life, as they get older. If there is more done to ensure that the world is a cleaner, greener place to live, then there will be less threat to people’s health and lives. Whether or not you believe in global warming as a man-made phenomenon, there are very definite threats in our environment – of which pollution is a major one, and an issue which can be combated by recycling.

Yes you can Go Green

On the other end of the scale, even though older people will no longer be here when the children are in their old age, there is no reason why people who are advanced in years should feel that they have nothing to give to or gain from paying attention to green issues. One inevitably comes to think of leaving a legacy, and helping to bequeath a cleaner earth is just one small part of why an older person should recycle. The financial benefits of recycling are clear to everyone, including the person recycling – and not least of all the reasons, by recycling you can set a good example.

Raising A Glass To Recycling

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Raising A Glass To RecyclingOf all of the materials that can be recycled, glass is one of the most rewarding in terms of efficiency and value. Here is a statistic – if you place a glass bottle in a landfill, it could take as long as a million years to decompose. However, if you place it in a recycling bin it can be made into a new glass bottle within less than a month.

If that isn’t a good enough reason to recycle glass, then think on this. Glass is the only material that is 100% efficient in its recycling. That is to say that if you recycle a glass bottle, you will get the same standard of glass from the process that you put into it – and this cycle holds permanently so the same container could be recycled forever with no loss of quality.

If you go to the supermarket today and buy something in a glass bottle, the likelihood is that seventy per cent of the glass in that bottle will have come from a recycling process. On the other hand, to make glass from scratch – a process that features heating substances to a temperature of more than two thousand degrees Fahrenheit – it requires energy and causes a lot of pollution.

Recycled glass is also probably the safest recycled material of all, because it has very little chemical interaction with anything it comes into contact with. This means that very little newly-recycled glass has to be disposed of because it does not come up to an acceptable standard.

Cell Phone Recycling Business

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So many people change their cell phone almost as often as the weather changes. The main reason for this is that new phones with new features are being released all the time, and everyone wants to have the newest model, the coolest features and the best look. What few people think about is what they’ll do with the old one – and all too often it goes in the trash. How long do you think it takes for the component parts of a cell phone to break down in the landfills? Forever, that’s how long.

The Cell Phone Recycling Business is a wonderful concept. What they do is help you sell your old cell phone – often no more than a few months old – for a good cash lump sum. They see that it goes to a worthy cause to raise good money, and that it doesn’t go in the trash. The guide that you will receive tells you exactly what kind of harm disposed cell phones can do to the environment, and why you recycling your phone is the best thing for everyone – you, the recipient and the world in general.

There are some astonishing facts. Did you know that only one per cent of the cell phones in existence since 1995 have been recycled? Think how many cell phones are just sitting in landfills, completely failing to biodegrade and releasing chemicals which poison the environment. You can benefit from recycling your old cell phone, and so can millions of others.

Getting The Message Out There

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The environmental issues which take up a lot of media space in this day and age have become surprisingly controversial in a short space of time. Barely a day goes by without someone claiming that the entire concept of environmental friendliness and green living is simply an excuse to tax us more, make us feel guilty and keep us from enjoying ourselves. This makes it difficult to give out a message of environmental positivity, because it is all too likely that the person listening to the message will reject it and accuse you of being a zealot.

Let’s be clear about this. Recycling household waste when you are finished with it is not the action of a zealot. It is common sense. It saves you money for a start, and in more ways than the immediate. Here are some simple facts:

• When you recycle an item for future use around the house, it’s one more thing you don’t have to buy.

• When you recycle goods by separating your garbage into recyclable and non-recyclable, you drive down the cost to the taxpayer of garbage disposal.

• When you buy products made from recycled material, you are supporting an industry which is more cost-effective than creating those materials from scratch.

Now, as much as people might claim that recycling is something for an obsessive green activist, one can agree that those three facts are true, and positive arguments for recycling. Isn’t that something worth sticking up for? Whenever anyone tells you that recycling makes no difference, let those three facts be your response.

Build A Compost Heap: Five Easy Steps

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home-grown compost heapCompost is a fantastic fertilizer for any garden, and it’s cheap and easy to make. Follow these five easy steps to your very own home-grown compost heap:

1. Find a suitable container. Ideally, this will be plastic and with a lid to keep rain out.

2. Fill the container. As a rule of thumb, anything that has ‘lived’ is suitable for a compost heap. Things like egg shells, leftover vegetables, withered plants, twigs, vegetable and fruit peelings all work well to create compost. Amass as many of these items as you can fit in to your container, then fill it to the brim and securely place the lid on top.

3. Place the bin on a hard surface, such as a patio or wooden boards over an area of grass. It is preferable to have the bin sitting on a solid surface rather than grass or soil, though not essential. Also bear in mind that compost heaps do not smell very nice, so try to place it strategically away from any noses (such as neighbors) it may offend.

4. Leave it be! Making compost from your food and household waste is, by and large, hands off. Let it sit and do its work. Add any extra fruit or vegetable peelings you may acquire to the top of the heap as it happens, and maybe once a month use a pitchfork to “turn” the compost over – just had a good rifle through to let new air in.

5. Use it! Compost takes between nine and 12 months to develop, and when its ready it will be a light, fragrant substance which you can spread throughout your garden for extra nutrition.

Broken Laptop? Recycle It!

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Broken LaptopLaptops and computers are like anything technological: prone to failure. After a few years of hard graft, your handy laptop will eventually bite the dust and it’ll be time to replace it. The problem may be caused by a software or hardware glitch, but the end result is always the same. Technology is temporary.

However, this does immediately present a puzzling conundrum: what to do with the old laptop? Rather than having it sit around your attic gathering dust until you eventually cave to inevitability and throw it in the trash, why not dabble a finger in laptop recycling? Not only do you stand to make a few dollars, but you’ll be doing the world a favor

First and foremost, it’s good for the environment.

Just throwing a laptop away is a waste of useful products; while the laptop itself may have ceased to function as a whole, that doesn’t mean the component parts are useless. Your screen may come in handy for someone else, or the hard-drive may make a suitable substitute for someone’s cheap computer. So to laptop recycle, begin by cataloguing what does work on the laptop and may be of interest in terms of spare parts for other people with the same laptop.

The older your laptop is, the more use it potentially has as spares. As manufacturers stop producing certain makes of laptop, it can be difficult for ongoing users to find spares to fix minor faults in their own machines. Laptop recycling is one area where having an older, less advanced machine is actually an advantage!

Are We Too Lazy To Recycle?

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garbage dumpThere is a lot of very emotive language used in the debate over recycling – as indeed there is over any environmental issue. One side will accuse the other of being too lazy and selfish to recycle, and the other will accuse the first of being guilt-tripped and gullible for falling for something that basically gives them a clear conscience for a short spell of time. The question does need to be asked; are we lazy and selfish? Are we easily guilt-tripped? Or should both sides calm down and get on with our lives?

It may not be selfish laziness that prevents people from recycling, but there is probably more that everyone could do to avoid the very real and tangible problems that are caused by a lack of recycling. It cannot be denied that recycling saves a lot in terms of the energy that goes into manufacturing, as well as the money that that energy costs to make and the resources – many of which are natural and exhaustible – which are required for the process.

Is it idealistic, naïve and bone-headed to argue the case for recycling? Some people might say it is, but when you look at the facts it makes a lot of sense to prepare for a future when we cannot rely on non-renewable forms of energy, by making sure that we use the alternatives as far as is practical in this day and age. If it takes a little bit longer to separate the garbage, what is that when set against the likely far greater expense of paying for repairs on the fly?