Why Recycle?

• The U.S. has the most pounds of trash per person per day (4.6 lbs of trash per person, 1.5 lbs of recycled materials per person)
• Recycling 1 ton of mixed paper saves the energy equivalent of 185 gallons of gasoline.
• The estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high.
• To produce each week’s Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years
• Each ton (2,000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy, and 7,000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings and a 60 pounds less of air pollution.
• Want to know more?

Where to Recycle
Three drop-off locations are accessible 24 hours a day. View recycling location maps for directions:

• 1716 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (Taco Bell parking lot)
• 3001 U.S. 82 (K-Mart parking lot)
• 738 Washington Ave (next to Farmer’s Market)

What to Recycle
We need your help! In order to make this recycling program a success, we need people to recycle any and all types of paper. “Paper” is a huge category and includes:

• Cardboard (Flatten all cardboard boxes to save space in the bin.)
• Paper cups
• Pizza boxes
• Cereal boxes
• Magazines
• Copy paper
• Old newspapers
• Shredded paper
• Any other paper or cardboard product

Questions: Call the Action Line
actionline@greenvillems.org
(662) 378-1534
Tips for Living Green

1. GREENVILLE COMES CLEAN…AND GREEN!
2. RECYCLE ALL PAPER It only takes a moment or two to put paper, cardboard, magazines, and newspapers in the trunk of your car to drop off at recycling bins around town. All paper/cardboard items may be taken to one of our 3 collection sites: Hwy 1 south, near Kroger’s and Taco Bell; Hwy 82, K-Mart Parking lot; Farmer’s Market, downtown. Get in the habit now of gathering all paper/cardboard trash, and taking it to a paper collection bin!
3. RETHINK BOTTLED WATER Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA’s standards for bottled water.
4. SAY NO TO STYROFOAM! Invest in a reusable coffee cup, which not only cuts down on waste, but also keeps your beverage hot for a much longer time. Most coffee shops will happily fill your own cup, and many even offer you a discount in exchange! Think about the 2-3 cups of coffee you enjoy in a Styrofoam cup each day: 10 minutes to drink, but a lifetime in the landfill.
5. RECYCLE ALUMINUM CANS Twenty recycled aluminum can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Sims Metal Company will take all cans, and will pay for the metal.
6. PLASTIC BAGS –GET IN THE HABIT OF USING RECYCLABLE BAGS! Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are covering our oceans, and subsequently, drastically affecting the food chain. A plastic island larger than the state of Texas is now floating in the Pacific Ocean, cutting off oxygen/sunlight for ecosystems below. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive option. If you leave your recyclable bags in car, make yourself go back and get them! You won’t ever forget again!
7. SHOPPING Buy products in paper containers rather than plastic. Buy in bulk to cut down on plastic/paper containers. Stop buying bottled water! Buy local produce and goods, whenever possible.
8. WASH IN COLD OR WARM If all the households in the U.S. switched to cold-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Only launder when you have a full load.
9. COMPOST Nature provides a natural “blanket” with all the right “food” for gardens and flowerbeds. Instead of buying plastic bags filled with mulch, save your leaves over the winter, spread them around the next spring.
10. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year.
11. SPREAD THE WORD! Encourage your church and your office to identify a person to organize recycling bulletins, paper, etc. Offer to take paper to recycling bins.