100 Billion Reasons to Recycle Your Beverage
Containers
Californians have recycled 100 billion beverage containers since 1987.
This means, over the past 10 years, Californians have recycled more than
19,000 beverage containers every minute of every day, around the clock.
The length of the 100 billion beverage containers laid end to end would
extend from the Earth to the moon nearly 37 times. There are other ways
of looking at what 100 billion recycled beverage containers is equal to:
- 5.4 million tons.
- 43 days worth of California trash that otherwise would have been landfilled.
- 10.6 billion gallons of soda, beer and other carbonated beverages.
- Reducing carbon monoxide emissions by the equivalent of keeping 660,000
cars off the road for a full year.
- Saving enough electricity to provide power to 28 million people for
a full year nearly enough to give a year's worth of free electricity for
everyone In California.
- Conserving enough water to provide the annual household water needs
of 37.6 million people enough to give every Californian a free year's worth
of water for drinking, washing and bathing.
- Recycling enough plastic bottles (3.4 billion) to create fibers for
manufacturing 850 million T-shirts, or nearly 25 square miles of carpeting
enough to carpet 15,000 football fields.
- Saving enough electricity to power every television in California for
at least 15 years
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 f you laid 100 billion beverage containers
end-to-end, the line would stretch around the Earth more than 350 times.
But the Earth has been spared such trash because Californian have recycled
those 100 billion cans and bottles since the state's beverage container
recycling program began in 1987.
 "From Fort Bragg to the Coachella
Valley, from Catalina Island to the Sierra Nevada, Californians should congratulate
themselves for reaching this milestone," said Larry Goldzband, director
of the California Department of Conservation, which oversees the state's
beverage container recycling program. "We have done it together, but
there's still more we need to do."
Indeed, if ever there was a task
in need of ongoing attention, it's recycling. Although California has maintained
one of the highest beverage container recycling rates in the nation, beverage
consumption grows larger annually. Last year, Californians purchased approximately
13 billion aluminum glass and plastic beverage containers. Almost eight
out of 10 of these containers were recycled, mostly through local curbside
recycling programs or at local recycling businesses. Curbside programs have
grown from 90 in 1987 to 514 today.
Ninety percent of Californians report
having recycled a beverage container at some time. However, recent Department
of Conservation research indicating that while most Californians want to
recycle, they don't always do so as much as possible. The focus groups surveyed
in the department's research also indicated that an environmental reminder
would be helpful to nudge them into more conscientious recycling.
To assist Californians with their
recycling habits, the department will teem up with cities and counties over
the next year to make it easier for consumers to recycle by placing more
bins.
Recycling bins will be placed in
public venues to make it easier for people to reduce litter and save landfill
space while at the same time help conserve our natural resources. The bins
will serve a dual purpose: they will be convenient beverage container recycling
opportunities for people away from home, and they will remind people that
we should all recycle not only where we live, but where we work and play,
as well.
The new bins will be placed in large
public venues such as sports facilities, parks, fairs, community festivals
and schools. Most important, it means trash cans will no longer be the only
beverage container disposal option for conscientious visitors.
Recycling bins were added to the
luxury suites at San Diego's Qualcomm stadium in time for the Super Bowl
festivities. In March, bins were delivered to Fort Bragg in time for the
whale watching activities and to the Coachella Valley for use at golf tournaments
beginning this spring. Also this spring, the Department of Conservation
will announce the latest recipients from its $2.3 million nonprofit recycling
grants program. The emphasis of the program this year was on projects designed
to increase recycling infrastructure.
In April, the Department of Conservation
will launch an advertising campaign in major cities statewide as California
begins collecting its second 100 billion recycled beverage containers. The
campaign's tag line ("Thanks California. Keep Recycling.") will
acknowledge previous efforts while encouraging Californians to remember
the strong recycling ethic we have developed in the last 10 years.
Anyone interested in more information
on beverage container recycling in California can contract the Department
of Conservation's recycling program at 801 K Street, MS 18-58, Sacramento
California 95814; or by calling 1-800-RECYCLE.
In addition to promoting beverage
container recycling, the Department of Conservation regulates oil, gas and
geothermal wells; safeguards agricultural land; studies earthquakes and
landslides; and manages the state's mineral resources. |
