Eastern Arizona Courier: Recycle locally to conserve
Filed under: Earth 911 - July 9, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
By Aimee Staten, Managing Editor
With the expansion of the Graham County Rehabilitation Center, there are now, more than ever, more opportunities to reduce waste.
For many years, Vista Recycling, 114 W. Eighth St. in Safford, has collected and recycled aluminum, brass, copper, cardboard and computer paper. Now, the Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as the Graham County ARC, has joined in the recycling efforts and collects and recycles newspaper, magazines, copper wire, electronic equipment, computers, aluminum and other metals.
The organization already collects used clothing in bins at the Bashas’ parking lot, the Champion Home Center and by the Discovery Park traffic light on Jensen Hill.
So how hard is it to recycle?
Mostly, it just takes a few changes in habits and different waste containers. While you once just tossed your newspapers and computer parts in the garbage can, you can now bag those items separately and take them to bins designated for those products.
The Rehab Center plans to place additional bins near the ones already available.
The benefits of recycling have been calculated by numerous organizations, and the consensus is that for every ton of paper made from recycled materials 17 trees, 6.953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy are saved.
If all morning newspapers in the United States were recycled for one day, the equivalent of 41,000 trees would be saved and 6 million tons of waste would never end up in landfills.
In one year, recycling allows aluminum companies to save the equivalent of more than 19 million barrels of oil - enough energy to supply electricity to about 18 million households for a year.
So, maybe your small bags of recyclables seems paltry now, but with a combined effort of most of the homes in the Gila Valley, we can start to make a difference in energy consumption and costs.
For more information on recycling visit www.recyclenow.com or earth911.org.