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This Friday more than 1 billion people across the globe will mobilize in their efforts to preserve our planet's natural resources by marking Earth Day 2022.
Sadly, the average American produces nearly 5 pounds of trash per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But here is your chance to do your part to turn that trend around.
For the first time in a couple years, Americans can mark Earth Day with in-person cleanup and recycling collection efforts after attempting to remember the day virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While those online efforts didn't drain Earth Day of its intended mission, there is no denying that in-person efforts are significantly more effective when it comes to finding ways to enrich and cleanse our Mother Earth.
Here are a few ways you can practice in earnest the three Rs of environmental protection -- reduce, reuse and recycle.
This week and every week we all should learn to pledge to reduce our reliance on one-use products that collectively contribute to the hundreds of millions of pounds of trash Americans pile up each year.
Consider, for example, cutting plastics and throwaway products as much as possible from everyday routines. The Natural Resources Defense Council recommends we choose a toothbrush with a replaceable head, use a reusable metal razor with a replaceable, recyclable head instead of disposable razors, 2 billion of which are tossed to the trash heap yearly in America.
As for the reusing chapter of the three Rs primer, carry refillable water bottles and coffee mugs, get stainless steel or other reusable straws and promote the use of second-hand and hand-me-down clothes.
Recycling, the third R of the equation for responsible stewardship of the environment, is perhaps most critical. Recycling, after all, overflows with benefits. Well-managed and responsible programs reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators; conserve natural resources such as timber, water and minerals; and lessen pollution by cutting the need to exhaust our limited supply of natural resources needlessly.
Clearly, everyday recycling must be strengthened. Frankly, the ultimate responsibility for ensuring useless materials can be made useful again rests in the hands of the beholder.
Instead of tossing that glass bottle into the same grimy bin as plastic bags and condiment-stained sandwich wrappers, take the time needed to sort properly and manage all recyclables. Multiplied millions of times over, such thoughtful disposal decisions can make a difference in healing the ailing recycling industry and, more importantly, in preserving this nation's finite warehouse of natural resources.
We are especially pleased to remind readers that on Friday the Tribune Chronicle will host its annual Earth Day recycling collection 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the rear parking lot of our building at the corner of Vine Avenue SE and South Street SE, Warren.
Recyclables we will be collecting include newspapers, magazines, office paper, paper bags and other items like encyclopedias, hard-bound or paperback books, telephone books or thick manuals.
Plus, following its absence during the pandemic, residential on-site shredding will return this year from 9 a.m. to noon in the Tribune Chronicle parking lot. Limit is four containers of 20 pounds or fewer.
And this local recycling effort doesn't aid just the planet. For every pound of recyclable paper you drop off, a donation will be made to the Tribune Chronicle's Newspaper In Education Literacy program.
With so many opportunities to contribute to making a difference in preservation of a clean and pure environment, resolve this Earth Day to adopt the principles of the three Rs -- reduce, reuse and recycle -- into your routine now and every day.
editorial@tribtoday.com