In the last three months, the City of Sheboygan produced 3,434 tons of garbage. That’s an increase of 507 tons, or 1,014,000 pounds, from just last year in 2019. If we break that number down by household, each home produced an extra 55 pounds of garbage in the last three months than during this same time in 2019. That’s a lot of trash!
Here are three quick tips you can follow to positively impact your community by recycling properly:
1. Create Jobs for Locals
Recycling can help create jobs that enhance the local economy. For example,
Recycling can create a variety of jobs, including collection, processing, and manufacturing. In fact, 86% of waste management jobs in the U.S. are created from recycling.
2. Decreased Landfill Space Increases Property Value
The less waste that has to be landfilled, the greater the impact is on the community. In fact, fewer landfills mean better property values and a cleaner city. Additionally, landfills are one of the biggest contributors to soil pollution, limiting usable farmland. About 80% of the items actually buried in landfills could be recycled. So, increased recycling limits landfill space, positively impacting the community.
3. Reduce Pollution, Benefitting You, Your Kids, and Their Kids…
Landfills are one of the top producers of greenhouse gasses in the U.S. As garbage decomposes, it generates methane. Methane traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere at about twenty times the rate of carbon dioxide. Less waste in landfills means less methane gas impacting not only the community but the entire world.
Before you throw away your waste, consider the impact recycling can have on you and your community. At the Sheboygan Department of Public Works, our team is dedicated to providing resources to help you properly recycling. Use our recycling search tool to see what you can and cannot recycle, or contact us!
Is there a pothole that you would like to see fixed? Or a city tree that needs to be trimmed?