PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - The fall and winter months are full of celebration, from Halloween to Christmas. However, there is one little holiday that seems to be forgotten about - National Recycling Day.

Marietta College’s Director of Environmental Science Dr. Eric Fitch says that re-usable items were once a normal part of our culture.

“Up until really the 1960′s and the 70′s, a lot of our commercial goods were re-usable. I mean, we didn’t have plastic baby diapers or human adult diapers for that matter. We had cloth and cloth is very re-usable,” he said.

Recycling is a part of what environmental scientists call the three R’s - reducing, re-using, and recycling.

Dr. Fitch explained that reducing means cutting down on the production and transformation of natural resources and re-using is exactly what it sounds like.

Dr. Fitch added, “Most importantly, none of these contribute to the waste stream, which is the big goal. You do the three R’s to keep things out of our waste stream which is an ever-burgeoning-problem.”

But here’s the catch. Not everyone has access to curbside recycling.

That does not mean, however, that recycling is a lost cause.

Dr Fitch said you should never underestimate the power of a voice.

“..., because, quite frankly, I’ve seen a lot of communities where they only had trash pick-up by a commercial vendor and I’ve seen those communities and groups of communities rise up and say to their vendor, you know, we’re paying you to be our trash hauler. We want you to provide a recycling option,” he explained.

Doctor Fitch’s other tip is to find out who in your locality operates recycling.

You may not be responsible for a factory pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your part.

Courtesy : https://www.wtap.com/2020/11/16/dont-forget-about-national-recycling-day/