Reduce, Reuse, Recycle for Osan!

As a New Year approaches, it has a lot of us thinking about our New Year’s Resolution. How are we going to better ourselves, or how are we going to help make something better. One great way to start the New Year’s is by doing our part to conserve our precious resources. And the best way to do so is by RECYCLING, yes, recycling. Now I know we have all heard this plenty of times, it’s been hammered into our heads for years. But have any of us actually taken the challenge and tried to recycle our paper, plastic, and glass. If not I say take the challenge, try to recycle. There are plenty of ways to recycle here at Osan. Even off base, did you know recycling is MANDATORY in South Korea? So not only would we be helping our Planet, but we would be respecting the laws ordered by our host country. One way to recycle on base is by sorting all of our recyclables, putting them in plastic bags and taking them to one of the big, brown dumpsters, marked “Recycle”. There are plenty of these big dumpsters across base, so finding one shouldn’t be difficult. If you live on base, put your recyclables (plastic, glass, cans, paper) in clear garbage bags and put them down the trash chute. Money saved on garbage disposal costs here on base can be spent on other things to help us all out.

So there is an idea for a New Year’s Resolution for anybody feeling earth friendly. However, for those of us who want to get started now, go ahead start recycling today. Conserving our resources is an important job that we all need to take part in. Our resources are important to live or daily life’s that we are accustomed too. Take one step closer to preserve the earth for our future generations.

Recycling and Environmental Facts
 Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. Trash to Cash
 Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months. Environmental Defense Fund
 About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28%. Environmental Protection Agency
 Over ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County. Eco-Cycle
 There are more roads in our National Forests than the entire U.S. Interstate Highway system. National Forest Protection Alliance
 Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling. Colorado Recycles
 Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, and air pollution by 20%. Environmental Defense Fund
 Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. Eco-Cycle
 If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees--or about 26 million trees per year. California Department of Conservation
 The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year - or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. Steel Recycling Institute
 If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. Seventh Generation Co.
 The U.S. is 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of its natural resources. Environmental Protection Agency
 Colorado is one of the worst states in the nation in terms of recycling and composting. Learn more about how our efforts are falling well short in the "State of Garbage in America." BioCycle, 2008

Here's some other simple things you can do today to help the environment and Osan:

-Use reusable bags at the commissary and BX

-Take your kitchen waste (no meat or dairy) to the composting bins at the garden

-Buy items that have less packaging

-Take items in good condition to the Thrift Store or post them on the online swap meet group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osanswapmeet/

Christina, guest blogger