Earth Day is celebrated once a year, but those who recycle celebrate every day.

Did you know that a 150-pound person will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash if he or she doesn't recycle? Recycling is important for several reasons. The main reason is that it benefits the environment.

According to The Recycler's Handbook (ISBN 0-929634-08-X), recycling one aluminum can will save enough energy to run a TV set for three hours.

Recycling also saves consumers and companies money. When a product is recycled, it takes less time to make it into something new because it is already refined. In addition, fewer greenhouse gasses, like carbon dioxide and methane, are released into the atmosphere during the manufacturing process.

Take aluminum cans as an example. Since the cans are already refined, companies don’t have to pay to mine the ore again, and it takes less energy to make a new can. Twenty recycled cans are made with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new aluminum can. Tin cans are also just as easy to be melted down and recycled as aluminum, and glass can be recycled forever because it never wears out. Plastic (PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, etc.) is another recycling no-brainer.

You can also help save the environment and your letter carrier's back by writing to the Direct Marketing Association at Mail Preference Service, 6 East 43 St., New York, NY 10017 to be removed from their direct mail list.

Making one ton of recycled paper uses only about 60 percent of the energy needed to make a ton of virgin paper. In addition, if just half of the newspapers and magazines in the United States were recycled every year, we would need 3,200 fewer garbage trucks.

More than aluminum, tin, glass, plastic and paper are recyclable. You can also recycle clothing by giving it to a second-hand store, and recycle car batteries by taking them to an auto parts store. Also, oil used in cars can be taken to an auto parts store to be recycled and refined. Don't forget that old appliances and used tires can also be recycled.

The Earth Club held an Earth Day Festival on campus April 22. The founder of Earth Day, John McConnell, had the idea to have one great global day for the Earth each year. From this original plan sprang the Earth Trustee idea that all people need to help care for the planet.

The Earth Club and Campus Ministry are joining forces to help students become better trustees of the planet. In the near future, recycling bins will be placed around campus for students to use. Gray recycle bins for clean, dry paper are already in many classrooms.

There are many things you can do at home, work and school to help the environment. First, look at what you throw away and see what you can recycle instead. Remember, what you buy has a direct relationship to what you throw away. Consider precycling! Don't buy what you don't need.