I call it garbage.

Today, many people think garbage is gone once it is thrown away. Reality is different because it is buried – not gone, just out of sight. We are making man-made mountains out of our garbage. It is estimated that in 2006 we threw away 251 million tons of garbage.

It is time we all did our part to recycle and cut back on the amount of garbage each of us produces. A typical individual will throw away 4.5 pounds of garbage a day. This equates to well over 100 pounds a week for a family of four.

Slightly over 40% of our garbage is paper, most of which could be recycled. Think about this -- ever ton of paper we recycle we save 17 trees.

Glass makes up nearly 7% of our garbage. Glass never wears out and can be recycled over and over again. Glass thrown away into landfills will never decompose.

Aluminum cans are being thrown away even though there is money paid for them. We throw away enough aluminum cans every three months to rebuild our commercial air fleet. It is estimated, in 2006, that Americans threw away 36 billion cans that were worth over 600 million dollars.

Plastic material is nearly 12% of our garbage. Every year Americans use over 25 million plastic bottles. Twenty-six recycled PET bottles can be made into a polyester suit. These types of plastic bottles come from carbonated soft drinks.

A mind blowing fact is every day we throw away enough steel and tin cans to build a pipeline from New York to Los Angeles and back.

It must stop and we all need to try and put forth effort to recycle. If we collected enough products we would create more jobs, save more energy, and help to clean up our world. What are you going to do? It is your choice, your decision – make the right one. Start today; tomorrow is too far away.