Seattle Lights

I want to apologize for my delay in posting anything.  I just returned back from taking my oldest daughter to the College of Charleston for orientation and have been tied up for several days.  I will be back to my normal posting within a day or so.  For now, I thought some of these attached facts were interesting:
MAKING NEWS Making recycled paper uses 30 percent to 55 percent less energy than making paper from trees. If you recycle a foot-tall stack of newspapers, you save enough energy to take a hot shower every day for a week. And considerable energy is saved by not trucking garbage to distant landfills. Other benefits of recycling: 95 percent less air pollution and one tree saved for every 150 pounds of paper you recycle. Americans already recycle 24 millions tons of paper a year, 29 percent of the paper we use. But there's room to improve. More than 50 million tons worth of room, in fact. For every household that recycles its daily newspaper, five trees are spared every year.
A GLASS ACT Recycled glass uses only two-thirds the energy needed to manufacture glass from raw materials. For every soft-drink bottle you recycle, you save enough energy to run a television set for an hour and a half. Refillable bottles don't need to be melted down before they're reused so they save four times as much energy, according to a study for the Commission of European Communities. Only 27 percent of the glass used in the United States is recycled, and there's no reason it can't be higher.
YES, YOU CAN It takes enormous amounts of electricity to refine aluminum from its ore. That's why most aluminum plants are built in areas with cheaper electricity, such as the Pacific Northwest. Recycling aluminum requires only a tenth as much electricity as making the same aluminum from bauxite ore. Discarding an aluminum can wastes as much energy as if you filled the can half full of gasoline and poured it on the ground. It takes barely as much energy as there is in a tablespoon of gasoline to recycle that can.
SIMPLE WAYS TO SAVE ENERGY Recycle. Set up an area to save newspapers, glass and aluminum. Separate them from your garbage. Ask your local recycler whether to sort the colored and clear glass separately. Recycle the paper, aluminum and glass however it's accomplished in your area: at supermarkets, by curbside pickup, at recycling centers. Organize a fund-raising drive to collect recyclables and donate the proceeds toward your favorite charity. Or, if there isn't a recycling program in your community, set one up. Given a choice, buy recycled products instead of those made of virgin materials. Urge your local newspaper to print on recycled paper. Re-use grocery paper or plastic bags, or turn them in for cash.
SOURCES Seattle Public Utilities,             206-684-3000      . For recycling and composting information, and curbside signups. Paper Recycling Committee, American Paper Institute, 260 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016.             212-340-0600      . Free pamphlets on recycling paper. Glass Packaging Institute, 1801 K St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.             202-887-4850      . Free pamphlets about glass recycling. Environmental Defense Fund, 1616 P St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. Its book, Coming Full Circle, offers a good approach to setting up a recycling program, with many inspiring examples.