Have you ever wondered how many bags, plastics, wrappers, boxes and other objects you throw away in your daily life? Every year dozens of tons of waste end up in the oceans, affecting the marine habitat and the health of our planet.
According to the World Bank, 2.01 billion tons of solid waste were produced worldwide in 2016. In Mexico, according to the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the country produced 53.1 million tons of solid waste in 2015.
It’s not too late. We can all do something to stop these numbers from growing. One solution is recycling, which allows us to use things a second time, thereby extending their useful life and avoiding the need to extract more raw materials from nature.
The transformation of waste products into new materials on an industrial level and recycling from our homes help prolong the lifespan and usefulness of resources, benefiting the environment and
people in aspects such as:
Education, communication and mass collection are strategies that have been used to foster recycling in the country, especially by raising public awareness through educational programs such as workshops on climate change provided by Iberdrola volunteers in elementary schools.
Something as simple as recovering and recycling helps reduce the amount of waste we produce. Here are five things you can do in your day-to-day lives:
- To ensure correct recycling of plastic bottles, remember the three basic steps: empty, crush and deposit. In the case of the lids, collect them so they can be donated to associations that recycle them and support different social causes. For example, Iberdrola people, together with the organization Banco de Tapitas, helps children with cancer.
- Use any cardboard and wooden boxes you have for a second occasion; they can be used as drawers or benches.
- Convert vegetable or fruit cans into pots or pencil cases.
- Don’t your clothes fit you anymore? You can donate them to an association or make accessories with them, such as bags.
- Separate the garbage in your home. Remember that organic waste can be used as compost.
In conclusion, recycling is a very important way to help protect the environment; it can greatly improve the state of our planet as well as offering us the possibility of a better lifestyle. This is why we need to carry on making everyone aware of the importance of garbage separation and recycling.
