2014 Recycling Numbers are in!

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Hey, Sedona and Verde Valley residents guess how much paper and cardboard we recycled for you last year?

 

The answer is 2,441 tons, which translates into just under 5 million pounds!

 

That’s the equivalent to saving:

  • 41,097 trees
  • 17 million gallons of water
  • 927,000 gallons of oil
  • 8 million kilowatt hours of energy
  • 8,055 cubic yards of landfill space

 

And that’s just what all of us working together saved on paper and cardboard! You can see how recycling materials has a cascade of positive effects which at first might not be obvious.

 

Remember, though, that Reduce and Reuse come before Recycle. It takes at least 15 years to grow a tree, but it takes less than ten minutes to fell it. On average one tree can yield about 700 paper grocery bags, which will be consumed in less than an hour by a supermarket. This is just another reason not to forget those reusable bags when you are shopping.

 

What else did we accomplish in 2014?

 

We recycled:

  • 20.28 tons of aluminum beverage cans
  • 3.70 tons of aluminum pet food cans
  • 82.92 tons of steel cans and scrap steel
  • 115.95 tons of plastic water and soda bottles
  • 38.84 tons of milk jugs
  • 34.10 tons of colored plastic bottles
  • 63.80 tons of non bottle shaped plastic containers
  • 73 tons of mixed rigid plastics (plastic furniture, toys, tubs and crates)
  • 6.36 tons of Styrofoam
  • 129.96 tons of textiles
  • 895.17 tons of glass bottles
  • 2.5 tons of household batteries
  • 24.5 tons of televisions
  • 23.54 tons of electronics

 

All total we recycled close to 4,000 tons (8 millions pounds) of materials that otherwise would have been buried in the landfill. We did this by working together with you as a team. You drop it off and we see that it is picked up, sorted and processed using the best collection methods available to ensure that what you put in the bin becomes something new again. That is what real recycling means. This transparency allows for us to report these important numbers to you as proof that our joint effort really does make a difference.

 

At Sedona Recycles, we say over and over that recycling is the simplest thing we all can do to save the environment. If you brought us materials last year or used our drop off sites thank you for doing the right thing. Since the money we get for these materials is barely enough to break even, we depend on our members to keep these important services available. So a very special thanks to our 344 current members and benefactors. Your support is essential to our continued success. Please join us in 2015 by becoming a member or donating to our nonprofit organization.

 

by Jill McCutcheon, Sedona Recycles

Sedona Red Rock News

January 21, 2015