Recylcing: It's the right thing to do.

America Recycles Day is an annual reminder that we all need to do what we can to reduce waste by reusing and recycling.

Technically, we're a day late on this one, but in the theme of yesterday's America Recycles Day, we have decided to reuse the theme, hereby naming Friday, Nov. 16, America Recycles Day Redux. This is an idea that is easy for American Leather to get behind because we reuse and recycle everything. No matter what it is -- wood, leather, foam or hardware -- if we can't find a use for it, we find someone who can. This is the way we've always run our factory, which regularly astounds first-time visitors for its clean and orderly condition.

But enough about American Leather. This is about what we all can do to reduce waste by recycling. This site for America Recycles Day offers several good ideas for recycling programs large and small, but it's all just a lot of talk -- much of it recycled (get it?) -- until we make it a regular practice. The hardest part is just getting started, setting up a system for separating recyclables from the stuff that is legitimate garbage. Once you have that organized, it's simply a matter of putting the plastic bottles and metal cans where they belong, rather than dumping it all into the garbage can.

Unfortunately, some of us are unwilling to make recycling a habit, as though it's a political statement or an undesirable style pose to be doing something that is environmentally smart. It's a shame that these attitudes exist. In the hopes that these words will wind up in front of some folks who heretofore had resisted recycling, consider this from the America Recycles Day website:


Recycling is the easiest thing we all can do 365 days a year to save energy, conserve natural resources and create green jobs.
• Our national recycling rate of 34 percent:
— Saves the energy equivalent of nearly 229 million barrels of crude oil or nearly
20 days of all U.S. oil imports.
— Saves Americans the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of nearly 
14 million US households per year.
— Avoids greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to removing more than 
36 million cars from the road each year, or growing nearly 5 billion tree 
seedlings for 10 years.
• Recycling is a multibillion dollar industry that employs millions of Americans and 
helps advance our clean energy economy.

So in a nutshell, when you recycle, you are a Maker, not a Taker. In fact, you will be a Job Creator. And as we all now know, those are good things. So let's get with it. Let's recycle.