Sheri Bowyer 

Some people have a great hatred for plastics complaining that they fill up our landfills and take forever to break down. There is truth to this, however, plastics serve us well in our everyday life and I’m not so sure we can ever completely do without them. The best way to coexist with our plastic friends is to recycle them into new wonderful products. You may be surprised by all of the new products that your old plastic can be recycled into, so let’s take a closer look.

Milk jugs, water bottles, butter tubs, juice containers, clear food packaging, and even plastic furniture can be recycled and are easily identified with the recycle symbol along with a number 1 thru 7. These numbers represent the type of resin the plastic is made from. The numbers also provide the appropriate information as to what temperature the plastic will be able to melt down in the recyclingprocess. In 2005, we Americans kept 3.3 billion pounds of plastics out of our landfills by recycling. Interestingly enough, five PETE bottles, (#1 plastic bottles) yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt, one square foot of carpet, or enough fiber to fill one ski jacket. If you recycled just 10 plastic bottles each week, you would have enough fiber to make 104 T-shirts per year. Still don’t like plastics? Tote bags, bottles, furniture, laundry detergent containers, vitamin bottles, floor tile, picnic tables, lumber, mailbox posts and fencing are just a few other things that plastics can be reincarnated into. New products aren’t the only things created by this incredible plastic recycling industry. More than 52,000 American workers have jobs thanks to this powerful plastic!

So enjoy your bottled water and then RECYCLE IT at a local buy-back center such as Thomas Refuse Service located at 2000 Chain Ave in Lake Isabella.

R-E-C-Y-C-L-E.

It begins with you and me.

To find out more information on how to recycle visit www.thomasrefuse.us or contact Thomas Refuse Service at 760-379-2618. Please forward all recycling questions or comments to sheri@thomasrefuse.us.