[Judy Pino] 
Americans know how important 
it is to recycle. 
From holding community recycling 
events to buying products 
made with recycled materials, 
Americans are doing their  
part to help protect 
our environment.
And every year, people across 
the country come together 
to celebrate America Recycles 
Day on November 15. 
And joining us today 
is Susan Bodine, 
our assistant administrator of 
EPA's Office of Solid Waste 
and Emergency Response, 
to tell us more about 
this very important day. 
Welcome, Susan.
[Susan Bodine] 
Thank you, Judy. 
[Judy Pino] 
Well, let's talk about 
America Recycles Day. 
What goes on in the country 
during that day?
[Susan Bodine] 
Well, it's a day for us 
to celebrate all of the 
accomplishments we've achieved 
in increasing recycling, 
and also to learn about new 
opportunities to do recycling.
[Judy Pino] 
And it's been 11 years now, 
since we've been celebrating 
America Recycles Day.
What's going to be 
different this year?
[Susan Bodine] 
Over 35 states are having 
events, as well as, 
as I said, many other 
organizations.
In fact, if you want 
to participate in an 
America Recycles Day event in 
your own community, just go to 
americarecyclesday.org, press 
on "How can I get involved?" 
and you'll find out what's going 
on in  your own neighborhood.
[Judy Pino] 
And of course, in 11 years 
so many things have changed 
in terms of recycling.
What kind of events can 
we expect this year?
[Susan Bodine] 
Well, it will really 
run the gamut. 
You'll have schools that 
have poster contests.
You'll have communities 
that have opened up their 
recycling center so that 
citizens can go in and see, 
in fact, how material
is recycled.  
And you will have -- also 
there are a lot of fairs, 
recycling fairs, that are being 
sponsored so that the community 
can go in and not only have 
fun and celebrate recycling, 
but learn about ways they can 
increase their own recycling. 
[Judy Pino] 
And, Susan, recycling is 
important, no doubt, 
to reduce waste and 
conserve energy, 
but it also has to do with 
your carbon footprint, 
which is a big deal nowadays, 
and reducing greenhouse 
gas emissions. 
Let's talk
about that.
[Susan Bodine] 
That is so true.
Recycling, again, not 
only reduces waste, 
but it saves energy.
And when you understand that 
most energy produced in the 
United States is associated with 
emissions of greenhouse gases, 
if you're saving energy, 
you're reducing greenhouse 
gas emissions. 
Let me use this aluminum 
can as an example.
If you were to make an aluminum 
can from virgin materials, 
you would first have 
to mine bauxite.
You would have to send 
it to a refinery.
You would have to process it 
further, and all that energy 
to make one aluminum can is 
so much more than the energy 
it requires to melt down this 
can and use the recycled 
aluminum to 
make a can. 
In fact, it's 5 percent of the 
energy to make a new can 
from recycled material. 
By recycling one aluminum can 
you can save enough energy 
to run a refrigerator 
for 17 hours.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, recycling just makes 
economic sense, doesn't it? 
[Susan Bodine] 
Yes, definitely.
In fact, I had the opportunity 
to give out some awards to 
some of our partners who make 
commitments to increase their 
recycling, and one company 
came in and reported that 
they had recycled over 
15,000 tons of material. 
Obviously that's a tremendous 
environmental benefit, 
but they also told us that 
they saved over $12 million. 
[Judy Pino] 
Now, how are Americans 
doing, really, with the 
recycling efforts?
[Susan Bodine] 
I'm really happy to be able 
to report that Americans 
are recycling and composting 
over 33 percent of the trash 
that they generate.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, no doubt that recycling 
today just isn't what it 
used to be.
This isn't your mom's 
recycling program, 
no longer just about aluminum 
cans, bottles, or newspapers. 
We have plenty of things 
that we recycle.
Let's talk about other ways 
that we can do our part 
to reduce our 
carbon footprint.
[Susan Bodine] 
Be a smart consumer. 
Reduce the amount of 
materials that you use, 
or when you're buying things, 
make sure that you buy things 
in smaller packages.
When you're done with products, 
if it still has a useful life, 
reuse it, give it to somebody 
else, donate it to Good Will.
And then, finally,
recycle.
You could recycle -- many 
communities have curbside 
recycling, which is your 
traditional waste streams, 
like the cans and 
bottles and paper, 
but you can also recycle other 
materials, like electronics. 
[Susan Bodine] 
Absolutely, I told you we're 
at 33 or more than 33 percent 
recycling rate?
We want to increase it, 
so I encourage everybody 
to get involved with 
America Recycles Day 
and learn how you can increase 
your own recycling. 
[Judy Pino] 
Absolutely, and as we discover 
more and more things that we 
can recycle, then you 
can do a lot more.
[Susan Bodine] 
Absolutely.
[Judy Pino] 
Well, thank you, Susan Bodine, 
our assistant administrator 
for the Office of Solid Waste 
and Emergency Response, 
for joining 
us today. 
[Susan Bodine] 
Thank you, Judy. 
[Judy Pino] 
Well, remember: 
reduce, reuse, recycle. 
And to find out how you 
can get involved in 
America Recycles Day, 
please visit 
www.americarecyclesday.org.
Or to find out more about what 
you can do to reduce waste, 
just visit us at 
www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd.