As I’ve been home for the summer, I’ve begun to feel guilty. Guilty for what? Guilty for not recycling as much as I could have when I was at college.

After making weekly trips to the local recycling center, I have realized that I had fallen into the lazy college student category. Things that I could have recycled at college, I chose to throw in the trash. Now, spending the summer at home, my mom has constantly reminded me to recycle anything and everything that can be recycled.

Why should you recycle, you might ask? Here are a few reasons why I think that you should recycle.

You can help save the world.

By simply recycling, you can do your part in helping to save the world. Recycling is good for the environment. Recycling preserves our resources and helps to protect wildlife. Just by recycling, you can help save the habitats of animals. Every week, close to 20 different species of plant and animals become extinct.

Recycling paper alone can help save millions of trees and reduces pollution. It can also help with climate problems. Recycling produces less carbon, which helps reduce the amount of unhealthy greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling helps to save energy because the manufacturer doesn’t have to produce something new from raw natural resources. Raw materials are also a limited resource. It also reduces the harmful gases that are produced and makes the air we breathe cleaner, having a positive impact on the lives we live.

Recycling reduces the need for landfills. Who wants to live next to a gross, smelly landfill? By sending less trash to landfills, this helps reduce air and water pollution. We will need landfills as long as we choose to dispose of waste. However, we can help reduce the amount of waste that is sent to those landfills.

Here are some fun facts about recycling.

350,000 aluminum cans are produced every minute. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours, the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline. After an aluminum can is recycled, it can become a new can within six weeks.

In order to produce each Sunday’s newspaper, 500,000 trees must be cut down. If every person that lives in America recycled just 1/10 of their newspapers, we could save close to 25,000,000 trees a year.

Recycling one glass bottle or glass jar can save enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

A ton of recycled paper has the capability to save 7,000 gallons of water, between 17-31 trees, and 60 pounds of air pollutants.

Reduce

Reducing is a key step to helping save the environment. Reduce the amount of waste that you generate. You can do this by using tote bags or paper bags when shopping. Say no to plastic bags. When eating meals, use plates and utensils that can be cleaned and reused. Don’t use paper utensils that you will just throw away after using.

Reuse

Many everyday items that you use can be reused in the future. Instead of throwing something away or even recycling it, consider whether or not it can be reused. Give your items a chance at a second life. Donate items to a Goodwill or Salvation Army, or other charitable outlets.

Recycle

Buy recycled products. Recycle any items that you can. Every little bit that you can do helps. Some of the many items that can be recycled include newspaper, aluminum cans, cardboard, steel cans, writing/copy paper, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, and magazines.

Hopefully these facts and statistics will help you reconsider what you do with your products after you use them. You can make a big difference in this world simply by recycling.

All you have to do is set aside bags in your house to put those used products into and make a trip to your local recycling center. It really is that easy! To my fellow college students, don’t fall into the lazy college student category. Do what you can to help save the world.