If you’ve heard alarming scientific predictions about climate change—such as rising sea levels, global temperature increases, more intense natural disasters, and ocean acidification, among many other devastating consequences – you may understandably be wondering, “How can I help stop climate change?”
There are numerous ways that the average person can reduce their carbon emissions and their contribution to climate catastrophe, but one that you may not have considered is the easy practice of consistently recycling your bottles and cans.
Keep reading to learn how recycling helps the environment, not only by reducing pollution but also by lowering overall carbon emissions to reduce the harmful impacts of container production on our climate.
The Connection Between Bottle Recycling and Climate Change
Worldwide, we produce over 450 million tons of new plastic annually, a massive increase from the mere two million tons that were produced in 1950. Half of these 450 million tons of new plastic are single-use plastics such as disposable plastic bags, package wrapping, water bottles, condiment packets, and food containers. Even worse, about 88 percent of those plastics will never get recycled.
One major impact of producing trash like this is that these plastics pollute waterways around the world and are frequently ingested by humans. Microplastics are now distributed throughout our bodies and can be found throughout our organs (hearts, livers, kidneys) placentas, and even our brains.
As worrisome as this is for human health, this is a separate (but related) issue from the one we’re attempting to focus on. So: how does recycling reduce global climate change?
Plastic production requires us to burn fossil fuels, and these emissions are expected to increase from the present annual 1.8 billion tons of carbon emissions to a whopping 4.3 billion tons per year by 2060. This is equal to about 3.3 percent of all emissions worldwide (i.e., 45.6 billion tons of carbon each year). While this 3.3 percent may seem like a relatively small fraction, cutting down on these unnecessary emissions is a worthwhile goal that can help to reduce the progression of climate change—every bit of effort counts, especially on a global scale.
Landfills are another major factor in climate change. If bottles and other containers that go unrecycled don’t end up as litter that’s polluting our environment, they typically end up in landfills. Landfills are the source of over 15 percent of total methane emissions, and methane is an even worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, trapping about 80 times as much heat for 20 years after being released. The more containers that go to landfills instead of being recycled, the worse landfills’ methane emissions will get, further contributing to climate change.
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Through Bottle Recycling
Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that each person (or household) emits through daily activities such as driving a vehicle, turning on electronics, and throwing out trash.
Since recycling bottles and cans reduces the energy needed to produce new containers, it’s one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to reduce your carbon footprint. To be more specific, recycling aluminum cans saves about 95 percent of the energy required to make new aluminum, and recycling plastics saves an estimated 70 percent.
Ways to Maximize the Impact of Bottle Recycling on Climate Change
The best way to maximize the effectiveness of recycling bottles and other containers is by choosing an efficient recycling method that maximizes the number of recyclables that get recycled. The reality is that the containers that you put into standard municipal recycling often don’t get recycled, especially if you’re using a single-stream recycling system. Sometimes, this even means that the majority of recyclables end up in landfills, incinerated, or as pollution.
Luckily, there’s an alternative that is significantly more efficient: bottle-drop recycling. This is a form of recycling program where participants fill bags with containers and drop them off at a designated location.
CLYNK has pioneered a bottle drop recycling method that ensures that many more recyclables get recycled. In Oregon, for instance, CLYNK’s technology has been used to reach an impressive redemption rate of 90 percent. This is because CLYNK’s patented system for bottle redemption utilizes a multi-stream method to provide nearly 100 percent uncontaminated recyclable materials.
CLYNK participants have successfully recycled over 2.6 billion containers. This means that they’ve diverted the equivalent of 30 major league baseball stadiums in container volume and saved energy equal to over 602 million miles of car emissions.
Get Started with CLYNK Bottle Recycling
To reduce your carbon footprint by ensuring more of your containers get recycled, take just a few minutes to sign up with CLYNK online. You’ll receive free CLYNK cards, bag tags, and a voucher for 10 CLYNK bags in the mail. Alternatively, you can also sign up in person at your nearest CLYNK kiosk. Check it out and start making a difference today.