Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to all you triple-R lovers (reduce, re-use, recycle.. duh). This morning I picked up the Metro News to read on my way to school and turned to a story that focused on Earth Day. The article mainly contained information on reasons why we should recycle and listed recyclable and re-uasble products. However, there was one small section that stuck out to me the most titled: "How long it takes for various materials to biodegrade." I know we have all heard growing up that plastics materials such as styrofoam take... like... a million years to decompose, however this article listed out several other everyday items and the amount of time it would take them to biodegrade. Here's part of the lengthy list:

Cardboard Box: 4 weeks
Cigarette Butt: 10 years!!! (I found that disturbing, especially for those who smoke a pack a day)
Nylon Fabric: 30-40 years
Aluminum Can: 50 years (in seawater)
Rubber Boot Sole: 50-80 years
Batteries: 100 years
Plastic 6-Pack Cover: 450 years (also astonishing and disturbing)
Disposable Diapers: 500 yearsFishing Line: 800 years
Styrofoam: 5,000+ years
Glass Bottle: 1,000,000 years

So just a note about the cigarette butts: Say you smoke a pack a day and there is 20 cigarettes in one pack. For just one person, that is 7,300 cigarette butts that won't decompose for another 10 years. 7,300 is the number for just one person, now think of the amount of people who smoke in the world. As I said before.. disturbing, right?

Most products today are available in a form that can be recycled or at least be re-used, so I urge you to go that route! According to the article, from 1987-1996, the aluminum cans that have been recycled annually increased about 20%, and recycling an aluminum can produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution than creating a can from new aluminum. Those are huge percentages, however we can definitely do better. Every year the sustainability movement adds more followers, striving for a "greener" world. Do your part as fashion lovers and upcycle (turning waste materials into useful new products - aka - DIY!) because honestly, who doesn't want to have a creative and exclusive "new" look to show off to the world.