where only 31% of its plastic beverage bottles get recycled, and the rest ends up in a landfill, or on the ground, or makes its long journey out to sea. This could be very important for a country like the U.S. A great example of this is Green Dot, out of Germany, although it is now law in 50 countries around the world, which requires companies to pay for the environmental cost of their packaging businesses. Other countries have gone even further and have put into affect an extended producer responsibility, or EPR on manufacturers of single-use products. Whereas in a state like Texas, that has no bottle deposit, the recycling rate hovers around 5%. In California, there is a legislated deposit system, and enjoys a 65-70% recycling rate. However, recycling won’t be successful unless it is mandated by federal law that every state should have a deposit system. It’s incredibly important since plastic is in everything it’s in your car, your home, etc. So, again, it’s very important to become knowledgeable about exactly what goes into those blue bins. An average of 50% of what gets put into a recycling bin never gets recycled. Often times, this is due to people not knowing what is truly recyclable. Many recycling plants sort, recover and then discard the unusable materials. Plastic bottles get sold, shipped, melted, resold, and shipped again, sometimes crossing the entire planet. It’s safe to say that every bottle you’ve ever used is still somewhere on the planet, although not necessarily in its original form. Plastic is an insanely durable material that resists decomposition, with a presumed life span of over 500 years. Washing them thoroughly is wasting too much water. Please make sure that you at least wipe out these items. Plastic bags: film plastics, dry cleaner bags, and grocery bags.