Greening Up Your Graduation



Dreamstime Stock Photos / Graduation Robe © Uciekinier  ID: 5257063

Congratulations graduates! Graduation is here and so are the graduation celebrations. There are many things you, your family and friends can do to green up your festivities!

 

Whether you are graduating from high school or college, jobs are probably one of the things you’re thinking about. Did you know that your bottle really means jobs? Recently, the Carolina Plastics Recycling Council created the Your Bottle Means Jobs campaign which was launched in the Carolinas. The goal is to capture more of the 3 billion plastic bottles thrown in the trash each year. By recycling only two more bottles a week you’ll help create jobs, grow the economy, support local businesses, reduce energy and other natural resources, and save valuable landfill space right here in your own backyard.

Chances are you might be wearing some of the fruits of your recycling efforts to your graduation. North Carolina based company Unifi Incorporated, creator of REPREVE ® recycled fiber, in partnership with Oak HallCap & Gown have created green graduation gowns. Each Oak Hall GreenWeaver® and NuHorizon® gown is made from about 27 post-consumer plastic bottles. As of today, over 87.7 million plastic bottles were recycled and made into new, recyclable graduation gowns. Now that’s getting off to a green start for your next journey!

Don’t stop there! Greening up your graduation festivities starts with the invitations and announcements. Consider emailing...not only will it save you on postage, it will save money from ordering the paper invitations as well. Do you still want to go the paper route? That’s ok! Be sure to ask everyone to recycle the announcements and invitations when they no longer need them.

Dreamstime Stock Photos | Wild Flowers Including Daisies And Corn Flowers

ID: 82988084 | © creativecommonsstockphotos

Decorating can be beautiful and environmentally friendly. Instead of buying new decorations, ask family or friends if they have any you could reuse. If they don’t, try incorporating nature into your decorations with greenery, flowers, shells or other natural materials.

Dreamstime Stock Photos Free Picture | Fruit Market

ID: 4369081 | © Michael Zysman 

A little preparation can go a long way! When you are planning the meal, first get a list together. Then try incorporating local foods into the menu. Local farmer’s markets are a great source of local food. Once the meal is over, don’t throw away those leftovers, reinvent them into other meals or compost them.

Dreamstime Stock Photos | Festive Table Setting

ID: 84940824 | © creativecommonsstockphotos 

Take steps to reduce the waste from your celebration. At your party, consider reusable dining ware and cloth napkins and table cloths. Can’t get away from using disposable items? Use one-time use items made from biodegradable or compostable materials where possible. Recycle all other materials such as plastic, aluminum, paper, and if possible try to avoid using Styrofoam.

Whew! Now that the festivities are over it’s time to clean it all up. Clean post-graduation messes with environmentally friendly cleaning products. Carefully pack away any decorations and excess supplies that may be used again.

 

As always, Reduce-Reuse-Recycle as much as possible. Now got get ‘em graduates: the world is your [recyclable] oyster! 

Dreamstime Stock Photos | Graduates Throwing Graduation Caps

ID: 84994878 | © creativecommonsstockphotos 

 

Fast Facts on Waste Generation

Source: RE3.org “The Facts” http://www.re3.org/facts.htm

Here are some facts about materials all of us use every day. As we approach Earth Day April 22^nd, think of ways you can reduce your consumption of these materials.

Aluminum

• North Carolinians throw away more than $74,072,000 in aluminum cans each year.
• Recycling an aluminum can saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from virgin materials.

Glass

• North Carolinians throw away enough glass each year to fill up more than 11,800 tractor-trailers. If you put those tractor-trailers end -to –end, they’d stretch from Asheville to Greensboro.
• Producing glass from virgin materials requires 30 percent more energy than producing it from crushed, used glass.

Paper

• North Carolinians throw away more than $164,375,460 in mixed paper each year.
• Producing recycled paper requires about 60 percent of the energy used to make paper from virgin wood pulp.
• One ton of paper made from recycled scrap paper saves 7,000 gallons of water.

Plastic

• Every week, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the Outer Banks 28 times.
• North Carolinians throw away more than $41,411,600 in plastic each year.
• Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.

SOURCES: NC DWM and NC DEAO

FOR MORE INFO:

American Chemistry Council
Aluminium Association
Glass Packaging Institute
American Forest & Paper Association