Patriotic People Recycle!

s no doubt about it: if you're a patriot, you should4% of U.S. annual oil consumption, or roughly 219
feel great about recycling.million barrels of oil, goes into the manufacture of
Think about it. Recycling saves trillions of kilowattsplastic. Thus increasing the amount of plastic we
of energy every year. It conserves our naturalrecycle can make a significant impact on oil use.
resources. It makes our country's air, water andIn 1997, the U.S. recycled 13 million cars, which
soil cleaner by limiting pollution, and it stimulatesconserved 32.5 billion pounds of iron ore, 18.2 billion
our economy by creating new jobs.pounds of coal and 1.5 billion pounds of limestone.
Politicians and pundits from both the Left and theAluminum can be recycled forever. Over 2/3 of
Right strongly agree that we should decrease ourall aluminum ever created is still in use. Most of
dependence on foreign oil. So recycling makes youthe 1/3 not still in use is aluminum cans in landfills.
a true patriot who's doing something to make theBe a Patriot: Limit Pollution
people and economy of our great nation cleaner,Recycling just half of your annual recyclable
healthier, richer and stronger!household waste saves 2400 pounds of CO2
I can see some folks in my mind's eye (not you,being released into the atmosphere. Many
of course!) with a slight sneer of disbelief on theirscientists contend that human-released CO2 is a
faces. So allow me to share some basic statisticsleading cause of global warming.
from the Environmental Protection Agency andRecycling household and car batteries keeps
other reputable sources that back up myheavy metals such as mercury, lithium and
argument.cadmium from being released into our air and
Be a Patriot: Save Energy!water. Heavy metals, when consumed by people
In 2003, the energy savings from recycling 54and other animals, cause numerous health
billion aluminum cans exceeded the energyproblems and diseases.
equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil, or theThe EPA estimates that 200 million gallons of used
amount of gas the U.S. uses in one day.motor oil are improperly disposed of each year.
Another way to look at it: recycling 1 can = 3Recycling used motor oil keeps it from polluting
hours of TV, so in 2003 the U.S. saved enoughyour ground and fresh water.
energy by recycling cans to run 162 billion hoursAmericans dispose of 270 million waste tires each
of TV, or about 25 hours of TV for every man,year. Illegally-dumped and stock-piled tires are
woman and child on Earth.fertile breeding grounds for rodents and
The Center for Ecological Technology found thatmosquitoes, and illegally-burned tires release oil and
the glass industry uses 50% less energy tosoot into the air and ground water.
create glass from recycled glass than from rawBe a Patriot: Stimulate the Economy
materials.Recycling creates a net gain in jobs - 5 to 1 over
Americans recycled about 40 million tons of paperlandfill management.
products in 2003, creating an energy savings ofJobs created by recycling cover a wide variety of
163 trillion (yes, with a "T"!) kilowatt hours ofskill sets, including basic labor, manufacturing,
electricity.entrepreneurship, advanced science and
Recycling one pound of plastic soda bottles - orengineering.
PET plastic - saves 1200 BTUs of energy (1 BTURecycling creates new "green" technologies
is the amount of energy needed to raise a gallondesigned to take advantage of the reclaimed
of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit).resources.
2005 saw the U.S. recycle 5 billion pounds of PETThe National Recycling Coalition reports that
plastic, which equals a savings of 60 trillion BTUsrecycling has created 1.1 million jobs, $236 billion in
of energy.gross annual sales, and $37 billion in annual payroll.
Be a Patriot: Conserve Natural ResourcesSo there you have it. Patriotic people recycle! I
Americans disposed of 83 million tons of paperchallenge you to come up with another activity
products in 2003. According to the EPA, bythat every family in the country can so easily do
recycling nearly half of that, we saved 705 millionto make such a huge difference in so many
trees and 290 billion gallons of fresh water.critical areas of the health of our great nation.