[GreenYes] importance of recycling in these times

["Steen, Terri - Contractor" <Terri_Steen@belvoir.army.mil>]

Greetings All,
It has been suggested to me that I write an article about the importance of
recycling, especially in light of current world events.  I have been picking
up cardboard boxes from the local resident coordinating the "food drive" for
the Pentagon rescue workers and families of victims.  We also donated a few
curbside containers to carry supplies to help reduce the generation of trash
at the Pentagon site.  (it's the least I can do...)

My first thought for a slant for this article was to focus on decreasing our
reliance on fossil fuels and conserving natural resources, with a secondary
focus on good stewardship and sound waste management practices.  As Maggie
can attest, it's often easy to lose sight of recycling in a crisis when
people are focused on an emergency goal of "make this go away."  

So far I haven't been able to find any Internet resources that answer the
question "how much petroleum do we use to make consumer plastics?"  (or
words to that effect) and while I move on to "how much energy can we save by
recycling plastics, cans, and cardboard?" I thought I'd throw this out to
the experts to see if I'm barking up the wrong tree or not.  Is it a
significant amount?  Does recycled plastic make a dent in this amount?  Do I
want to learn what "virgin resin" really is?

The article will be for the weekly paper here on Post, so I will need to
keep it short and simple (and apolitical!).  

Any advice or assistance would be much appreciated....
Terri 
******************************************
To post to the greenyes list,
email to: greenyes@grrn.org

Subscription information for
this list is available here:
http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
******************************************