Each year on November 15, millions of people across the United States take part in America Recycles Day, a day which was created to raise awareness about recycling and the purchasing of recycled products. You can find a participating event in your city at https://americarecyclesday.org.
VitaCup is proud to use a patent protected cup that allows our pods to be fully recycled. Not only the pod, but also the foil lid. You can see the steps to recycle your VitaCup coffee pods here:
And, if you recycle the pod; it’s even more eco-friendly than your local take-out coffee cup.
Recycling in America
Over the last 30 years, the recycling rate has increased to 34%. The steady growth of the recycling rate has created jobs and wages for Americans and has supported community development. According to the EPA, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for 757,000 jobs and produced $36 billion in wages in a single year.
The first recorded mass recycling program in the United States, "Ban The Can," was conceived and executed in 1970 by Ruth "Pat" Webb in Honolulu, Hawaii. Webb organized military and civilian volunteers to collect over 9 tons of metal cans from the roadways and highways of Oahu.
Benefits of Recycling
- Reduces the amount of waste that is sent to landfills and incinerators
- Conserves natural resources
- Increases economic security
- Prevents pollution
- Saves energy
- Supports American manufacturing
- Conserves valuable resources
- Helps create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries
Recently, tariffs have raised the costs of exporting plastics to China where a lot of large scale recycling occurs and, as a result, some recycling centers have even eliminated #5 plastic services. This means that less plastics are getting recycled in centers across the country; but there are ways you can help!
How to Help
Number 5 plastics are extremely durable and that durability can make them more difficult to recycle, but they are recyclable and some services are helping make it easier. The Gimme 5 program recycles all Number 5 plastics by either drop off or mail-in programs. They have recycling bins at Whole Foods grocers across the country. You can find more information about their mail-in program here!
In addition; if your municipal recycling center doesn’t support #5 plastics, call your local municipal waste provider and let them know that acceptance of #5 plastics, and plastics in general, is important to you. Even better? Call or write your local congressperson and let them know that acceptance of #5 plastics, and plastics in general, at your recycling center is important to you and your community so you can keep America beautiful this recycling day and for generations to come.
How do you recycle?