it’s national recycling week!

Photo Credit: CNBC

In Australia.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t get in on the celebration here in the States!

Did you know:

Americans buy nearly a BILLION bottles of water EVERY SINGLE WEEK!

That’s an average of more than three bottles per week for every man, woman and child in the country.

And when the water’s gone?

Only a small portion (something like 20 percent) of these 51 BILLION empty plastic bottles are recycled.

That’s two bottles out of ten!

The rest end up in landfills.

Or oceans.

Or in the tummy’s of unknowing sea creatures.

Some of which we eat.

Here’s a good look at what happens to your bottles if you’ve got the energy to toss them into the recycler (as well as what happens to them if you don't).

Reusable materials are turned into ‘flakes’ which can be used to produce anything from reusable shopping bags, tarps, car parts, furniture, household products, more water bottles (enough with the water bottles already!), T-shirts, blankets, carpets and rugs...

If that isn’t encouragement enough to recycle,

I highly recommend checking out this nice piece of video:

Trash INC: The Secret Life of Garbage

Garbage. It's everywhere — even in the middle of the oceans — and it's pure gold for companies like Waste Management and Republic Services who dominate this $52 billion-a-year industry. From curbside collection by trucks costing $250,000 each, to per-ton tipping fees at landfills, there's money to be made at every point as more than half of the 250 million tons of trash created in the United States each year reaches its final resting place.

At a cost of $1 million per acre to construct, operate and ultimately close in an environmentally feasible method, modern landfills are technological marvels — a far cry from the town dump that still resonates in most people's perceptions. Not only do they make money for their owners, they add millions to the economic wellbeing of the towns that house them. Technologies, such as Landfill Natural Gas and Waste To Energy, are giving garbage a second life, turning trash into power sources and helping to solve mounting problems. It's particularly important in places like Hawaii, where disposal space is an issue, and in China, where land and energy are needed and trash is plentiful.

One sure thing about the garbage business: it's always picking up.

What will you throw away today?