• Conserve Earth's limited natural resources
• Save money by reducing unnecessary purchases and reusing items
• Reduce the need for landfills and their associated costs
• Reduce ecosystem destruction caused by resource extraction
• Reduce the amount of energy required to make new products
• Decrease greenhouse gas emissions
• Help create jobs at recycling centers and in the transportation industry
• Sustain the environment for future generations!

Today's most innovative companies are reducing, reusing, and recycling to save money, conserve resources, and pursue new opportunities in the marketplace.  Check out the local case studies to see what some local Louisville businesses are doing to help the environment and their bottom line. 

Think green -- your decision to reduce, reuse, and recycle will encourage the production of innovative products and services and help create new jobs in industries that recognize the value of our scarce natural resources. 

Reduce.
Reuse.
Recycle.  
For yourself.
For your community.
For the planet.  

Recycling saves energy!  Learn what you can power by recycling the following items.

DID YOU KNOW?

More than half of all garbage produced by a household can be recycled.  Think about how much landfill space we could save if everyone recycled!

PLASTICS

Plastics are made from petroleum, which is a limited, non-renewable resource.  Five recycled two-liter plastic bottles make enough fiberfill for a ski jacket.

About 1/3 of the carpet made in America has recycled plastic in it.

Recycled plastic is also made into commercial strapping, clothing and outdoor lumber which does not rot. When milk jugs and liquid detergent bottles are recycled, they produce those same products for reuse.

ALUMINUM

Over 1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every minute.  Each pound of aluminum recycled eliminates the need to mine 4 pounds of bauxite ore - another of our valuable natural resources.

Each recycled aluminum can saves enough electricity to run a television set for 3 hours.

Every American drinks about 370 beverages from aluminum cans each year.  About half of those are recycled...but two million cans are thrown away.

PAPER

It takes one 35-foot tall tree to make a stack of paper six feet tall. Recycling approximately 1 ton of newspapers saves 17 trees.

Each ton of recyled paper saves 4 barrels of oil, and uses 58% less water.
Recycled paper production uses 40% less energy than virgin paper production.

Recycled newsprint yields an average of 73% reusable product.  This is the result after the ink and moisture are removed.

Sawdust and wood shavings saved from manufactured wood products are recycled into paper grocery bags, corrugated boxes and other products.

STEEL AND TIN

Americans use enough steel and tin cans to make a steel pipe running from Los Angeles to New York AND BACK AGAIN!

It takes four times as much energy to make steel from ore as it does from recycling steel scrap.

For every pound of steel that is recycled, enough energy is saved to light a 60-watt light bulb for over a day.

Tin and steel are sold to manufacturers who produce bicycles, automobiles, refrigerators, steel beams for construction and other materials.

GLASS

Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.

Making new glass from recycled glass uses 32% less of the energy needed to make glass from raw materials.

Using recycled glass to make new glass cuts related air pollution by about 20%.  Air quality is something we should all be concerned about improving!

THE BOTTOM LINE - REDUCING, REUSING, AND RECYCLING IS THE SMART THING TO DO FOR YOURSELF, YOUR COMMUNITY, AND THE PLANET.