Ecologue

Time for our Question of the Week!

The first person to respond with the correct answer will win a reusable 20 oz. OSU water bottle.

Submit your answer here (“Leave a Reply,” below) or on our Facebook page. Only one post per person, please.

Question of the Week

Recycling saves energy, as it costs less to recycle a material than it does to make it from scratch. If you were to recycle five plastic water bottles, how many hours would you be able to power a 60 watt CFL light bulb from the energy savings? (Hint: The EPA has a calculator for this on their website.)

Answer

You could power a 60 watt CFL bulb for 48.9 hours with the energy savings from recycling five plastic water bottles.

The EPA reports that only 9% of the total plastic waste generated in 2012 was recycled. Excluding transportation energy, the US used approximately 17 million barrels of oil in the production of water bottles, enough to fuel a million American cars for a year. Combined with the fact that bottled water is more expensive than tap, the option does not appear to be a very sustainable one.

While important to recycle, it is even more important to reduce the amount of waste being produced in the first place. By using a durable reusable water bottle, you can save resources and money.

And congratulations to Lisa for winning this week’s Question!