Duh.

Sometimes it makes sense to state the obvious and then look behind the scenes to see how the facts add up. At least, that's what I thought I would do with a recent report from Jackson Community Recycling (JCR) about the environmental benefits of recycling–specifically the greenhouse gas reduction benefits.

Looking back at the years 2000-2006, JCR processed more than 22,000 tons of recyclable materials. Compared to the energy required for producing the same commodities from virgin materials, JCR calculates that it saved almost 250,000 BTUs and just over 120,000 barrels of oil; reduction in greenhouse gases through recycling during this six year period total almost 15,000 tons!

As I was reviewing the data in JCR's report, I was struck by the outrageous energy costs involved in producing aluminum foil and beverage cans: recyclable aluminum products require the greatest amount of energy to produce of any JCR commodity (151.57 BTUs/ton, compared to 24.26 BTUs/ton for plastic bottles and 3.60 BTUs/ton for glass bottles).

The good news is that aluminum is a very valuable commodity to recycle: from 2000-2006, sales of recycled aluminum averaged $1281/ton, while plastic bottles averaged $207/ton and glass bottles averaged $35/ton.

Bottom line: we should all do whatever we can to reduce our use of aluminum, and recycle every possible piece of aluminum foil and every aluminum container that we can. Of course, we should also recycle everything else that we  possibly can.

It all adds up to more revenue for JCR and less greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Carbon Neutral Journal's stats are brought to you by Blue Spruce Cleaners.

Popularity: 8%