America Recycles Day (ARD) is coming up this Sunday, November 15

According to the ARD web site, it’s the only nationally recognized day dedicated to recycling and the purchasing of recycled products.

This year’s event is the first time I had heard of America Recycles Day, but it’s actually in its 12th year. The initiative is by Keep America Beautiful and the National Recycling Coalition who support local communities and raises awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of recycling.

Volunteer America Recycles Day coordinators are situated around the nation and you can get more information about events in your state here.

Some quick recycling related facts from the America Recycles Day “Conversionator”:

– The average person has the opportunity to recycle more than 25,000 cans in a life time

– Recycling a single aluminum can can save enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours

– Americans throw away enough office paper annually to build a 12 foot high wall of paper from NY to Seattle.

– Making glass from recycled materials cuts water pollution by 50%

– Five PET soda bottles yield enough fibre to make a square foot of carpet.

Recycling is a normal part of life for many people now which is great to see; but some people are still confused by myths such as that it takes more energy to recycle products than it does to make them from more materials. I have some figures in my article on recycling energy savings that show this isn’t the case.

You might like to also check out my article, “Recycling by the numbers” regarding plastic resin numbers and what they mean. The article contains a free plastics recycling cheat sheet you can download to use yourself or send to others. The cheat sheet can be printed out placed where you store your garbage and recycling bins or on the bins themselves.

There’s also a ton of other tips and information on Green Living Tips on the topic of recycling!

Enjoy America Recycles Day, but do bear in mind that in the 3Rs of going green (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), recycling is the last word for a good reason. It’s still better not to buy what you don’t really need or reuse something you do buy once it can no longer fulfill its primary function. That said, recycling is still a very important activity that helps us to reduce our environmental impact!