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Join us in celebrating the 20th anniversary of America Recycles Day! #BeRecycled
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The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. At that time there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act, no Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment.
In the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day to bring environmental issues onto the national agenda. Twenty million Americans came out in different U.S. cities to demonstrate and celebrate clean air, land and water. And it inspired change and action. The president sent a plan to Congress to consolidate environmental responsibilities under one agency. In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By the end of the decade Congress would pass new laws giving EPA the power to protect the air, water, and lands of the United States.
Today, our nation's air, land and water are cleaner than they were in 1970. This is in large part to laws like RCRA, which was passed to protect human health, land, groundwater, surface water and air from the potential hazardous of waste disposal. After the passage of RCRA, EPA built the hazardous and municipal solid waste programs and fostered a strong societal commitment to recycling and pollution prevention. As EPA continues to reshape and strengthen those programs, EPA is also focusing on the systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles. By looking at a product's entire life cycle, we can find new opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources and reduce costs.
As these valuable efforts carry on, there is still more work we must do to address the largest and most immediate environmental and public health issues affecting the world right now. Topping that list are clean and safe drinking water, marine litter and water infrastructure.
Right now, up to 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and, as a result, proper sanitation. This fact leads to anywhere from one to three million deaths every year. On the marine litter issue, billions of pounds of waste enter our oceans each year, harming marine life and coastal economies. And on infrastructure, we estimate that more than $700 billion dollars are needed to modernize U.S. water infrastructure over the next 20 years. Much of the world faces similar infrastructure challenges.
Learn more about what EPA is doing to address these issues: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-wheelers-wilson-center-remarks-global-water-issues.
Find out what EPA is doing to advance the sustainable management of materials: https://www.epa.gov/smm.
Read President Trump's Earth Day message: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/presidential-message-earth-day-2019/.
In the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day to bring environmental issues onto the national agenda. Twenty million Americans came out in different U.S. cities to demonstrate and celebrate clean air, land and water. And it inspired change and action. The president sent a plan to Congress to consolidate environmental responsibilities under one agency. In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By the end of the decade Congress would pass new laws giving EPA the power to protect the air, water, and lands of the United States.
Today, our nation's air, land and water are cleaner than they were in 1970. This is in large part to laws like RCRA, which was passed to protect human health, land, groundwater, surface water and air from the potential hazardous of waste disposal. After the passage of RCRA, EPA built the hazardous and municipal solid waste programs and fostered a strong societal commitment to recycling and pollution prevention. As EPA continues to reshape and strengthen those programs, EPA is also focusing on the systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles. By looking at a product's entire life cycle, we can find new opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources and reduce costs.
As these valuable efforts carry on, there is still more work we must do to address the largest and most immediate environmental and public health issues affecting the world right now. Topping that list are clean and safe drinking water, marine litter and water infrastructure.
Right now, up to 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and, as a result, proper sanitation. This fact leads to anywhere from one to three million deaths every year. On the marine litter issue, billions of pounds of waste enter our oceans each year, harming marine life and coastal economies. And on infrastructure, we estimate that more than $700 billion dollars are needed to modernize U.S. water infrastructure over the next 20 years. Much of the world faces similar infrastructure challenges.
Learn more about what EPA is doing to address these issues: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-wheelers-wilson-center-remarks-global-water-issues.
Find out what EPA is doing to advance the sustainable management of materials: https://www.epa.gov/smm.
Read President Trump's Earth Day message: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/presidential-message-earth-day-2019/.
America Recycles Day Events
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Tools: Sample Draft Proclamation
ARD Handout ARD Event Recruiting email template ARD Making a Difference email template Resources: ARD Website - Take the Pledge! ARD Toolkit Register your event! For additional information about America Recycles Day, please contact Missouri ARD Coordinators: Jill Hollowell, Email: jhollowell@meramecregion.org or PH: 573-265-2993 Angie Snyder, Email: asnyder@greenecountymo.gov or PH: 417.868.4197 |
America Recycles Day, a program of Keep America Beautiful, is a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and America Recycles Day, a program of Keep America Beautiful, is a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. Every year on or around November 15 (America Recycles Day) event organizers like you, educate neighbors, friends and colleagues through thousands of events. “Go-to-Guides” make it easy to organize your local event. Included in these turnkey materials are customizable templates including posters, media materials, proclamations and activities you can use to promote recycling awareness, commitment and action in your community.
Register your America Recycles Day event or activity, and gain access to the official ARD logo and downloaded materials. If you have any questions contact the America Recycles Day team at at americarecyclesday@kab.org.
Here are some videos focused on “I want to Be Recycled”.
Plastic bottle (Ad Council, fast and fun)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqHgJ3PqUs
The journey of a plastic bottle (educational)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xlNyWPpB8
Save the Food (informational)
http://www.savethefood.com/
utm_source=yt&utm_medium=overlay&utm_campaign=savefood
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America Recycles Day Theme is "Bathrooms, Bags and Gadgets".
Bathroom Promote Bathroom Container & Packaging Recycling. Don’t overlook the bathroom — it’s full of containers and packaging and other materials that can usually be recycled, but often aren’t. Start your own bathroom recyclables inventory, matching paper types and plastic numbers (on the bottom of the bottles!) to what’s accepted in your recycling program. You’ll probably find that there’s more recyclable paper, cardboard, glass, and plastic in your bathroom than you realized; here are just a few of the commonly-recyclable, often-forgotten ones: 1. Shampoo and Body Wash Bottles: The opaque bottles for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, contact lens solution, and other toiletries are usually made of #2 plastic (High Density Polyethylene, or HDPE), which is accepted by most recyclers. Number 2 plastics can be recycled into building materials like lumber or fencing, office supplies like pens, or more bottles. Check if bottles made from #3 plastic, are accepted in your recycling programs. 2. Mouthwash Bottles: These clear bottles are typically made of #1 plastic, or PET, which is accepted by most recycling programs. 3. Pill and Medicine Containers: The amber-colored prescription pill bottles, as well as opaque plastic bottles containing both pills and liquid medicines, are usually #1, 2, 3, or 5 plastics, so it’s especially important to check the bottom of the bottles and compare to what your recycling program accepts. 4. Cardboard Packaging: Don’t forget the boxes that your toiletries came in, such as soap, cosmetics, cotton swabs, at-home hair color, facial tissues (the used tissues themselves aren’t recyclable, though), vitamins and over-the-counter medications. Another no-brainer are the cardboard tubes that your toilet paper and paper towels came on. 5. Hair Care Products: Check the hair gel tubes, hairspray bottles, pomade and deep-conditioning tubs for their plastic numbers — chances are, once you finish off the container, you can rinse them out and put them right in your recycling bin. Other bathroom items are recyclable, but accepted less often in your recycling program and may require some extra attention: 6. Make-up Compacts: Check for the recycling symbol on the underside of your make-up compacts; once clean, they may be able to go in your bin. Otherwise, look out for cosmetics companies that will accept their spent packaging to recycle in-house. 7. Toothbrushes and Toothpaste Tubes: Organizations like TerraCycle will collect hard-to-recycle household items like toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. And don’t forget that the box your toothpaste came in can probably go in your home recycling bin! Bags & Film Plastic Films and Wrappers: Not everyone knows how or where to recycle plastic film and bags. Educate your community about plastic film recycling with the help of the Plastic Film Recycling Organization. Make sure that the retailers, dry cleaners and businesses in your local area who have Drop Off Programs for plastic bags, film and wrap are listed in the Drop Off Directory. People in your community will then be able to search for the most convenient place to drop off their plastic film scrap using a simple zip code search. The plastic wrap that your cotton balls, toilet paper, diapers and other products come in can be recycled. It will likely be recycled into composite lumber, containers, pipes or other materials. Gadgets Electronics: Did you know that according to the Consumer Electronics Association the average home has 24 electronic products? The challenge is collecting those electronics that are not being used. One great way to promote electronics recycling at your workplace is to plan an America Recycles Day electronics recycling collection event. Electronic products that are recyclable are more than just televisions, cell phones and computer products. Also collect DVD players, VCRs, video cameras, digital cameras, gaming consoles, stereos, answering machines, photocopiers, scanners, printers and the list goes on. When you decide that it's time to trade up your product for a newer model, consider these possibilities before you pull the plug:
Be sure to use a certified vendor to help collect and recycle/refurbish at your next E-Waste event on E-Cycle Missouri 
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MORA's America/Missouri Recycles Day 2017 Raffle
Buy a raffle ticket to win! The 2016 America/Missouri Recycles Day Raffle prize is a 6’ grey recycled park bench that will be showcased at the Missouri State Fair. Bench provided by Champlin Tire Recycling.
A sample proclamation to use. Have your city or county officials sign to proclaim November 15, 2016 as Missouri Recycles Day.
Missouri Recycled Day Event and Activity Ideas:
Another ideas for your MRD Event:
Trunk Sale A giant garage sale on wheels. This is a twist on the old garage sale. Load up your trunk and sell your “stuff” from the back of your vehicle. The event was originally designed for those who live in condos, apartments, or for anyone else who wasn't able to host a traditional garage sale. Organizing such an event will include site location, preferably with marked parking spaces. Vendors typically are assigned one slot to park and one to set up sales; promotion to attract Trunk Sale participants (those with a truck full of items to sell, swap or give away, a food vendor to two…) and promotion to attract buyers on the scheduled day. If you can find a big enough parking lot, you won’t have to limit who can take part. When you fill up with more sellers (Vendors) than your lot will hold, plan another for next spring! The goal of the sale is to reuse and recycle, keeping unnecessary materials out of the landfill. For sellers who don’t want to take any unsold items back home, arrange for organizations to take donation of unsold items, you may have to define what is acceptable for donation. Recycle bins for cardboard and beverage containers also need to be handy. Some organizations to possibly partner with: DAV, Good Will and Habitat Restore. Fun wording for your promotion:
Email Signature Closure For You To Use:
For America Recycles Day, I have taken the “I Recycle” Pledge, and I invite you to join me and commit to recycle more. Please Pledging to Recycle More.
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