While recycling allows for reduction in landfill trash, reduces certain harmful emissions and allows the reuse of certain plastics and other items it also helps stimulate the economy and makes Missouri a better place for everyone. In my Capitol office we have two large recycling containers. One for paper and the other for plastic. And at home my family recycles as much as possible.

Recycling in Missouri, creates jobs, in fact there are as many as 25,000 job in collection and processing, within businesses supporting the recycling industry and manufacturing recycled products. Recycling also saves money by diverting material from disposal costs, sales of recovered materials, helps retain local employees in local businesses, and allows for local and state revenue. Overall, recycling helps by improving local regions and the state, while attracting businesses interested in processing and using materials.

However, any recycling can help have a huge impact on one’s day-to-day life. Just think if each Missourian recycled one item a day that would equal 180 million pieces a month in our state. By simply taking time to decide to recycle paper, glass, plastics and aluminum each person can make a huge impact. Using recycled materials conserves resources and the energy it takes to drill and mine resources from the earth. By demanding recycled products, consumers encourage the use of recycled materials in manufacturing.

These simple steps can help make recycling at home, or at work easier:

• Collect newspapers in a paper grocery bag or in tied bundles. (It takes up to 75,000 trees to produce one Sunday edition of the New York Times.)
• Don’t recycle bottle tops; they’re not made from the same plastic as recyclable bottles. (The energy saved by recycling one plastic bottle can power a computer for 25 minutes.)
• Rinse cans, but crushing isn’t necessary. The aluminum can is the most recycled item in the United States, as well as the most valuable. It can be recycled again and again, and so efficiently that a can is regenerated and back on the shelf in as little as 60 days. (Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.)
• Rinse all glass jars and containers.

Benefits of Recycling:

• Recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators;
• It conserves natural resources such as wood, water, and minerals.
• Recycling prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials;
• It saves energy.
• Recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions;
• Recycling helps sustain the environment for future generations.
• Recycling helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States.

Many communities have a centralized location to drop-off recyclable items. For more information consult with Department of Natural Resources website under the solid waste tab or contact your community’s waste management division to determine if they offer a recycling center or information on where you can recycle. Some areas even have a curbside pick-up service for recycled items.

As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 866-277-0882 (toll-free) or (573) 751-2272, or by fax at (573) 526-7381.