This document discusses the problem of recycling and plastic waste. It notes that while 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, the recycling rate is only 28%. Plastic pollution, especially from plastic bags, kills over 1 million sea creatures each year. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, comprised of 80% plastic, is twice the size of Texas and weighs 3.5 million tons. The document provides specific behaviors people can change, reduce, or modify to help address this problem, such as using reusable bags, switching to CFL bulbs, taking shorter showers, and turning off unused appliances.

1. RECYCLING
By: Ryan Stafford

2. • About 80% of what Americans throw away is
recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%.
• Plastic bags and other plastic garbage kill over
1,000,000 sea creatures a year, primarily in
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage
patch is twice the size of Texas, floating
somewhere between San Francisco and
Hawaii. It’s 80% plastic and weighs 3.5 million
tons.

3. Ten Behaviors to Change
• Turn off the TV when you leave the room
• Unplug power cords for unused appliances
• Walk/ ride a bike to places of shorter distance
• Carpool with friends to work and school
• Use canvas bags instead of plastic bags
• Take showers instead of baths
• Use CFL bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs
• Cook more, and eat fast food less.
• Become active in your community, spread the
word about recycling!!

4. 2 Behaviors to Reduce
• Use canvas bags instead of plastic bags- if you don’t like
canvas, opt form paper over plastic. Paper bags can
biodegrade in a matter of weeks. Americans only recycle 0.6%
of the 100 billion plastic bags that they take home. The rest
end up as litter or in landfills.
• Switch over home lighting to CFL bulbs- they initially cost
more but save in the long run by using only ¼ of the energy of
an incandescent bulb, and lasts 8-12 times longer. If every
American household replaced one standard bulb with a
CFL, we would save the same amount of energy as a large
nuclear power plant produces in one year, and one bulb can
save 260 pounds of CO2 a year.

5. 2 Behaviors to Modify
• Take shorter showers- a 5-10 minute shower uses less water
than a full bath tub. A 5 minute shower uses 10-25 gallons of
water, while a full bath tub requires about 70. Installing a
more efficient fixture will help maintain higher water pressure
while lowering the amount of water used.
• Switch off unused appliances- Turn off unused
appliances, such as lighting in unoccupied
rooms, TVs, chargers and computers. This can account for 10%
of your electricity usage. Turning off one could save 99
pounds of greenhouse gas.

6. Shopping Bag Data
• In two weeks, shopping for myself I collected
20 plastic bags. The population of Ashland, KY
is close to 21,000 people. If each person
accumulated 20 bags in 2 weeks, that would
amount to 4200,000 bags, that’s 210,000 bags
a week!
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7. Sources
• www.business-ethics.com
• www.dosomething.org
• www.epa.gov