What are five things you can do with your plastic waste? (other than throwing it away)?

Question

What are five things you can do with your plastic waste? (other than throwing it away)?

Answer 1

These days we are hearing from a lot of major and independent news sources about climate change. People that feel they should change their purchasing habits by becoming environmentally friendly should take a few things into consideration before further contributing to environmental damage. We all want to do our part for the Earth right? Well this post will help you to make sure you are doing it right. Here we go:

1.) Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: a.k.a. energy efficient light bulbs do save a lot of energy and will save you money through their efficiency and through their longer lifetime. But, these suckers actually have a small amount of mercury in them, a dangerous neurotoxin. So, if one breaks in your house make sure to handle with care and to open the windows in the house so you don't breath in harmful mercury contaminated debris. This is the most important part...whatever you do, Do Not Throw Away A Broken Or Used CFL, you would only be contributing to mercury contamination in our landfills. There are special recycling centers that are set up to dispose of these bulbs. Some states and cities have actually outlawed throwing CFL's away, so check to see if it's illegal in your area. Goto this EPA webpage to find a local Recycling Program for your bulbs.

2.) Don't top off your gas tank: The next time you fill your gas tank up and try to squeeze in that last drop to so you can go further with less trips to the gas station remember this...Topping off your gas tank defeats the automatic shutoff valve thats there to allow room for the gas to expand in your tank. When you you top off you defeat the valve, thereby releasing large amounts of a known carcinogen called Benzene. Not only are you damaging the valve on your car which can lead to gas leaks, you are contributing to the damage of your health through high exposure to Benzene fumes which are invisible to the human eye. Visit this site for more information about the Don't Top off campaign in Oregon (site has relevant information applicable to any state or nation.)

3.) Say No to Styrofoam: Styrofoam has its uses as a great insulator. But when used to make products like throw away cups and plates...not such a good thing for the environment. All that styrofoam ends up in landfills and take hundreds of years to decompose. While styrofoam can be recycled, it often isn't due to the lack of cost effectiveness. More great information on styrofoam here.

4.) Plastic Nor Paper: This one isn't really fancied by many people, but the trend is catching on. Cities like San Francisco have implemented legislation that will charge people a small fee for using plastic bags in grocery stores. The idea is to have people use reusable bags to help curb climate change due to the fact that plastic is derived from petro chemicals or oil. Visit this site to get your reusable bag...they are all the trend now...especially here in Oregon. I bought 4 bags from this site...they are great and I use them all the time.

5.) E-Waste A growing problem in our modern and technological society is that our electronic equipment becomes outdated within a few years. People often want the newest and latest tech gadgets...who doesn't? However, as the world continues to develop these innovative products including televisions, computers, printers, cellphones, etc., an increasing amount of this E-Waste is ending up in our landfills as a result. Please don't just throw away your old computer monitors into the dumps, as these are among the most toxic e-waste items. An incredible amount of toxins are enclosed in these electronic products that are extremely toxic. By the way the image link on the right called Manufactured Landscape, is a documentary that gives the viewer a real sense of how bad the world's e-waste problem really is. Doing our part to donate still working products to others that can use them, or simply properly disposing of these products at your local recycling center can help us all help the environment. earth911.org/electronics has some great information about what to do with your old electronics.

Your welcome!

Answer 2

Well plastic is an oil based product.

Burn it. Creating btu's to heat or generate power

Shred it then compress it into usable forms.(fake wood)

If it is the right plastic it can be remolded into another container.

only got 3 I guess:)