Have you ever watched someone throw a recyclable into an ordinary trashcan and gotten an eye twitch out of anger? No matter how much we may wish it, not everyone cares about the environment the way we wish they would. Next time someone doesn’t respect the blue bin, you’ll be armed with enough facts to make them cower in regret and promise to never throw out a recyclable ever again.

Not recycling has far-reaching consequences that go way beyond what we experience in our day-to-day lives. Not only does it have an effect on the environment, it has an effect on people too. Landfills all over the world are filling nearly faster than we can make new ones, and it’s only going to get worse as our population grows year by year. If we continue to produce more waste than we can handle, we’re doomed. Dramatic? Maybe. True? Most definitely.

We should be recycling as much as possible for a number of reasons:

• Non-renewable resources will run out, but recycling helps stave off that eventuality for a little bit longer
• Recycling helps protect the economy of a household since you can reuse products rather than go out and buy new ones
• Less waste heads to landfills where greenhouse gases are emitted at a frightening rate
• Recycling saves energy (1 aluminum can saves enough energy to run a tv for up to 3 hours)

Besides all of this, recycling feels good. Most of us enjoy knowing that we’re doing our part to help the environment and future generations. If you need a little more firepower for your next encounter with a non-recycler, consider these facts:

• More than 1/3 of Canada’s plastics are single-use products or packaging
• 86% of Canada’s plastics end up in landfills
• Canada produces 3.3 tonnes of plastic waste every year
• Canada uses nearly 15 billion plastic bags annually and almost 57 million straws every day
• Plastic waste is expected to quadruple by 2050

It’s important that we all do our part to ensure our world remains healthy and viable for centuries to come. If you’re dedicated to helping preserve our Earth and send less waste to landfills, make sure you get all of your landfill waste diversion bins here.