Go Green

American Disposal Services has always realized the impact recycling can have on the environment. Our Go Green Initiative was designed to respond to our communities' needs through education, availability and a partnership between American Disposal Services and the communities.

Through programs such as Ready...Set...Recycle, we have partnered with local schools to aid in the education of our youth. American Disposal Services is an avid believer that no age is too young to start learning how to protect the environment. The program uses games and crafts to interactively teach children about what is recyclable, the benefits of recycling and how they can do their part in recycling efforts. For more information on Ready...Set...Recycle, please contact our Public Relations Department.

We have also made our recycling services available to every customer. At American Disposal Services, we strongly believe recycling is a partnership between the communities and their disposal provider. Learn more about the Go Green Initiative to see how you and your community can partner with American Disposal Services to preserve the green for tomorrow by making recycling easier today.

In our Go Green Initiative, we think more is better. That is why we offer our new and existing customers the opportunity to recycle 4 times their current amount by using our 64 gallon wheeled and covered recycling containers. These containers are Single Stream Recycling compliant, lightweight and durable. To order your new 64 gallon wheeled recycling container, please call one of our friendly customer service representatives today.

Learn more about our Go Green Initiative:

• Recycle Today, It's the American Way
• Recycling Fun Facts
• Tips for a Greener You

Recycle Today, It's the Way.

Each year the U.S. population discards 16 billion diapers, 1.6 billion pens, 2 billion razor blades, 220 million car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial air fleet four times over. These numbers are astonishing, but we can do something about them, recycle.

Typically, there are three different ways of disposing of your waste. One way is a waste-to-energy plant, which means nearly 100% of your trash is burned and turned into energy. Another is the traditional landfill, also known as a dump, which is a site for the disposal of waste materials. The final way is recycling. Out of all of these, recycling creates the most jobs, is cheaper to operate and uses less energy.

On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person each year. Such a large amount of solid waste can be detrimental on our environment. We can all do our part by educating ourselves, our friends and families on the importance of recycling.

Consumer goods packaging is one of the main sources of trash per household. On average, it consumes approximately 65% of household trash. Out of every $10 spent buying an item, at least $1 goes towards packaging. This packaging is then thrown away, also costing the consumer money. Recycling is more beneficial for the planet, the disposal company and your wallet. On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.

Experts say 75% of the trash we put in landfills is recyclable. If we recycled 35% of our trash the global warming emissions would be equivalent to taking 36 million cars off the road. Currently, the national recycling rate saves the equivalent of more than 5 billion gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels. American Disposal Services wants to do its part in increasing these numbers. Please, join us in our efforts to preserve the green for tomorrow by making recycling easier today.

Download a printable version of the recycling chart (PDF)

Recycling Fun Facts

Paper, paper everywhere! Did you know that paper products make up the largest part of our trash (approximately 40 percent)? Each year Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a 12 foot high wall, stretching from Seattle to New York City. This paper also consists of the newspapers we read everyday. Each Sunday 500 thousand trees could be salvaged if everyone recycled their newspaper. If all of our newspapers were recycled for the entire year, we could save about 250 million trees!

Dasani do or Dasani don't? Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Most of these bottles end up in landfills. While, a lot of landfills are using incineration as a method of reducing our energy, recycling saves twice as much energy as incineration. The average American family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers! Just think of what your family could do for the environment if you recycled each container you use.

Can it! We use over 80 billion aluminum pop cans every year. Three hundred and fifty thousand aluminum cans are produced every minute. In the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50 thousand 12-ounce aluminum cans are made. If you recycle just one of these cans, it will save enough energy to power a TV for three hours, and it is the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline. If you throw that can in the landfill, it will still be a can 500 years from now. Aluminum is the most valuable resource to recycle. We use it in numerous products, and it can be recycled an infinite amount of times.

The skinny on glass A lot of glass has been replaced by plastic in the last few years, but there are some things that will always be glass. Every month, we throw away enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these bottles will sit in our landfills decomposing for at least 4 thousand years. The worst part is all of these bottles and jars are recyclable, and they can be recycled an infinite amount of times, just like aluminum. In order to make glass, mining and the transportation of raw materials is necessary. This type of production creates approximately 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass. If recycled glass is substituted for half of these materials, the waste would be cut by more than 80%. Also, recycling glass causes 50% less water pollution than creating it from raw materials. Before you throw that jar of jelly or baby food away, think of all of the different things it could be used for.

Tips for a Greener You

Paper or plastic?

How about neither. Each year the United States uses 30 billion plastic and 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring approximately 14 million trees and 12 million barrels of oil. Cities across the country have begun efforts to ban plastic bags in stores, but everyone can do their part for the environment by keeping a reusable bag handy for shopping trips. For more information, visit  Filter For Good.

The truth about your bulbs

Light bulbs are a necessity for nearly every home in America, and if every home in America replaced their five most frequently used bulbs with efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL), one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases would be kept out of the air over the course of the bulbs' lives (a lifetime range of five to as many as eight years). That is equivalent to the annual emissions of 800 thousand cars, the annual output of more than 20 power plants, and $600 million in U.S. energy savings.

Put a little green back in the planet and back in your pocket.

Putting plastic liner or caulking around your window cracks is a very easy, efficient way to save energy and money. Most windows have some sort of holes that allow air to seep through. Lining or caulking these holes will keep the heat or air conditioning in and the outside air out.

Also, in the fall the weather jumps from hot to cold often. When it is fairly warm out, open the windows instead of turning on the A/C. Not having the heat or air conditioning on for a few days will put a lot of green back in your pockets.

Don't go Solar solo

Turning your house into a solar unit is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself and for the planet. But, don't stop with just your home. Turn your city's flashing road signs solar. Turn your office building into a LEED certified building. There are many things you can do to make your life more solar, find out more at  Borrego Solar.