“Refill NOT Landfill” in Lebanon
Reduce, REUSE, Recycle! During the month of April, we are asking you to focus your attention on the Second R and look for opportunities to REUSE. Reusing items to shrink or eliminate the amount of waste that actually gets landfilled is becoming more important as we look to the future of waste disposal.
REUSING can be easily done with a bit of planning and commitment. Small examples of this include: grocery shopping, enjoying a fresh brewed cup of coffee, or consuming your daily intake of water. When grocery shopping, do what the stores are encouraging, and “bring your own” bags. When stopping for coffee, many local coffee shops will give you a discount when you use your own mug. Drinking water is very healthy, have a refillable bottle handy, and fill as needed.
Facts to get you thinking…
Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles but recycled only 38! Water is a local resource that doesn’t require plastic bottles and transportation. Filling a water bottle saves a lot.
As a nation, we consume 400 million cups of coffee per day (400 Million!). If you buy just one cup of coffee in a disposable cup each day, you’ll create nearly 23 lbs of waste in one year. You may not be aware, but the cups are NOT recyclable or compostable because they are made of a composite paper and plastic material.
Making 400 million disposable coffee cups for American coffee drinkers requires resources. To produce this quantity of cups:
- 9.4 million trees were harvested;
- 363 million pounds of waste were generated; and,
- 3,125,000 tons of CO2 emissions were generated.
Each year, we use nearly 1,500 single-use grocery bags. Only 1% of plastic grocery bags are recycled. Keep a couple of bags in your vehicle and bring your own bag next time you go shopping.
Join us at the Lebanon Solid Waste Facility on Wednesday, April 11th at 9:00am when Mayor Suzanne Prentiss will read a proclamation designating the month of April as “Refill NOT Landfill” month.
No Plastic Pollution 