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Recycleing Has Redeeming Qualities

Recycling Has Redeeming Qualities

Recycling has become a big deal here in Lake County with recycling centers opening up in various locations around the lake. You may have seen the neat buildings with the rePLANET logo on the top in different locations around the county. The rePLANET concept was created by TOMRA as a way to recycle items that that have been charged a deposit established by the state of California. TOMRA is the leading developer and manufacturer of systems for the automated recovery of empty beverage containers and other materials. The redemption centers accept CRV (California Redemption Value) aluminum cans, glass bottles, PET plastic. They can be redeemed automatically with the reverse vending machines available at the centers. During daytime hours a Recycling Specialists is on hand to assist you.

"How it works," said Recycling Specialist Robert Kennedy, "cans or bottles can be put through our automatic receivers and a voucher will be printed to be redeemed at the local market. The larger containers such as plastic water bottles we weighed by hand. We process 68,000 items a month at our Riviera location; the containers are emptied once per month. People turn their recyclables into cash, in some cases some real money. We've paid out from as little as a couple of bucks to as much as $150."

Recycling centers can be found in Kelseyville at Braito's Riviera Foods, Lakeport at the Grocery Outlet, Clearlake at Foods Etc, Ray's Food Place and Safeway, Middletown at Nobles Liquor.

Eco-Facts

Glass:

  • Glass containers go from recycling bin to store shelf in as little as 30 days.
  • An estimated 80% of recovered glass containers are made into new glass bottles.
  • For every ton of glass recycled, over a ton of raw materials are saved, including 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash, 380 pounds of limestone, and 160 pounds of feldspar.
  • Ninety percent of recycled glass is used to make new containers.
  • Recycling glass helps to preserve natural resources while lessening the load on landfills-and helping communities avoid expensive disposal costs.
  • Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
  • Recycling glass lowers the melting temperature and saves 32% of the energy needed for production of new glass.

Aluminum:

  • If we recycled the 48 billion aluminum cans that we throw away each year, we could save the equivalent of 24 million barrels of oil.
  • Recycling aluminum cans saves precious natural resources, energy, time and money - all for a good cause - helping out the earth, as well as the economy and local communities.
  • Aluminum is a sustainable metal and can be recycled over and over again.
  • In 2003, 54 billion cans were recycled, saving the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil (America's entire gas consumption for one day). It takes about 6 weeks total to manufacture, fill, sell, recycle, and then remanufacture a beverage can.
  • The energy saved from recycling one aluminum drink can will run your TV for 3 hours.
  • If we recycle the aluminum trash that Americans throw away, we could rebuild the entire US airline fleet every three months.
  • Recycling one aluminum can saves the amount of energy to light one 100-watt bulb for 20 hours or run a TV for 3 hours.
  • In America, 1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every second.
  • If you throw an aluminum can out the window, it will still litter the Earth up to 500 years later.

Plastic:

  • If we recycled every plastic bottle we used, we would keep 2 billion tons of plastic out of landfills.
  • Recycling a pound of PET saves approximately 12,000 BTUs.
  • It takes 25 two-liter plastic soft drink bottles to make a sweater.
  • It takes two plastic soft drink bottles to make enough polyester fiber for a baseball cap.
  • It takes 35 two liter plastic soft drink bottles to make 1 sleeping bag.
  • Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

Posted Saturday Jul 07