Willkommen!
Did you know that in Germany, and other countries as well, they are only allowed to throw away a very small amount of garbage? It's true, the rest they have to recycle or reuse. This is because landfills in Europe are overflowing and they need to put limits on garbage; and quite frankly, so does the U.S.
A bit about landfills
Have you ever seen one? They're disgusting. Just look at the picture. They are huge huge piles of trash. And even though precautions are made to ensure leakage doesn't get into the ground water, nearly 10 times out of 10 some oozy, gooey, probably some disgusting green colored stuff gets into the ground contaminating our water supply. They also smell really bad. Here's a money saving tip: if you want to save on rent, find a place near a dump. The renters usually charge less because nobody wants to live there because of the awful smell (it's especially bad on hot humid days). They also tend to emit methane gas (along with green house gases) which is harmful to to anything living.
Recycling Tips
You know when you look at the bottom of glass and plastic bottles and they have the recycle symbol with a number in the middle of it? And do you know that that number means something and that some glass and plastics are supposed to be separated? Know how you don't know which kinds of plastic and glass to separate? Well, neither do I. Generally speaking, you can co-mingle glass, plastic, tin, and aluminum in one container. To make it easy for you to recycle, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Recycling plants have a process where they seperate the glass, tin etc.; and in this process they will separate out the "special" types of glass and plastic. So don't worry about which kind of glass or plastic goes where, they'll find their place.
Same goes for paper and cardboard. There are so many rules for which kind of paper and cardboard can and cannot be recycled it's ridiculous. Well darn it all! How are we supposed to keep track? Well I say as a rule of thumb, if it doesn't have a bunch of food attached to it (ie pizza boxes, paper plates, etc) recycle it. I actually try to recycle all pizza boxes no matter how much cheese or sauce is stuck to them. I figure if they can't use it they'll take care of it.
Do you know why homeless people on T.V.-the ones who are always getting in the way of Batman and the cops-are trying to cross the street with a shopping cart full of cans? It's because there's a place on the other side of the road that will pay them for the aluminum. There are tons of places that will pay you for your aluminum cans and stuff. It's not a whole lot, but you get the satisfaction of helping out the planet and saving money doing it. And if you drink alot of soda or beer (which you shouldn't, they're unhealthy) then it could add up.
Electronics
Please don't throw away your old electronic equipment; especially batteries. Take your old phones, computers, stereos, etc. to Best Buy or Office Max. They'll recycle that stuff for you. They also take the batteries from phones as well. There are lots of places that will take your old electronics. Just ask around; somebody will take them, maybe even buy them.
Throwing away used batteries is a big no no. Batteries have battery acid which isn't good for the planet or anything living. As noted above, Best Buy and other electronics outlets will take your phone batteries. Places like Auto Zone and other car parts stores will take your old car, truck, or van batteries.
I read somewhere that it takes ten times more energy to produce a soda can from scratch than to make one from recycled material (I think it was on the side of a Pepsi can). That's pounds and pounds of CO2 being kept from going into the atmosphere choking our planet. Almost everything can be recycled and it saves the planet; so you might as well do it. If you don't do anything else, please just recycle as much as possible. It's the easiest thing to do and be able to say you're living a green lifestyle. Don't forget, TURN OUT THE LIGHTS.
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