Plastic and Bottles and
Paper, Oh My!
an I just get a little recycling
around here?!?! I live in Phoenix,
Arizona, which is currently the sixth
largest city in the United States. We
have sprawl, sunshine and some stuff
to sort out when it comes to our recycling initia-
tives and waste diversion goals.
Across the country (and world), cities, people
and industry are ramping up their recycling
initiatives for a myriad of reasons:
• To help curb greenhouse gas emissions.
• To conserve precious land.
• To earn revenue.
• To turn waste to energy.
• Or simply to be good stewards to the earth
and because it's the right thing to do.
Looking at the life cycle of a product - from
natural resource through end of product life -
should help make the importance of recycling
(and reusing) even more apparent.
* Check out The Story of Stuff Project
(http://storyofstuff.org/) for good perspective
on this, as well as The Story of Stuff video with
Anne Leonard at the end of this article.
Many cities, including Phoenix, have set waste
diversion goals. When we throw something
away, that "away" is most likely a landfill where
we bury our waste and it slowly breaks down
and contributes to climate change by emit-
ting methane (CH4), which is the second most
prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the U.S.
as a result of human activities. According to
the EPA: "Landfills are the third largest source
of CH4 emissions in the United States." So the
less we throw "away," the better…
About a year ago, Phoenix launched its 40 by
20 campaign (40% waste diversion by the year
2020) along with a nice new logo and educa-
tional/outreach campaign called Re-imagine
Phoenix. And just in case you're wondering,
yes, I can re-imagine Phoenix in more ways
than one, but that's a story for another day.
C
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