So have you been thinking that recycling that bottle or can doesn't do any good? Not so!! Greener thinking is shifting the way we make things — and shifting our lifestyles — into more sustainable, greener products, practices and living. Every effort makes a big difference, no matter how small, even recycling your bottles and cans. Here's some info from the State of California:

Recycling Facts:
Just in Californian alone, over 8 billion bottles and cans got thrown in the trash instead of the recycling bin. Here are some recycling facts and tips to help you think twice before trashing your recyclable beverage containers and papers.

* An average California household throws away over 34 pounds of plastic water and soda bottles each year.
* Every 90 days a recycled aluminum can makes its way back on the shelf as something useful.
* 80-100 years - that's the lifespan of an aluminum can that gets tossed into the trash instead of a recycling bin.
* 700 years - that's how long a trashed plastic bottle will sit in a landfill taking up space and refusing to degrade.
* 1 Million Years - Put a glass bottle in a landfill and that's how long it'll sit there. Recycle it and it can live forever.

Products Made from Recycled Bottles, Cans and Papers:

* Plastic - recycled material products made from Plastic Bottles:
	* T-shirts: Fourteen 20 oz. plastic bottles yield enough fiber for an extra large T-shirt. * Carpet: It takes fourteen 20 oz. plastic bottles to make one square foot of carpet. * Fleece Sweater: It takes sixty-three 20 oz. plastic bottles to make a sweater. * Jacket Fiberfill: Fourteen 20 oz. plastic bottles yield enough fiberfill for a ski jacket. * Sleeping Bag Fiberfill: It takes eighty-five 20 oz. plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag.
* Glass - recycled material products made from Glass Bottles:
	* Glassware * New glass containers * Knobs * Decorative home décor * Fiberglass Insulation * Tile
* Aluminum
	Recycling aluminum and steel cans directs those valuable metals into new products, saving 95% of the energy required to manufacture aluminum from scratch and 74% of the energy needed to make steel. Additionally, an average household would save 414 pounds of CO2 in one year by recycling these metals. If everyone in the U.S. recycled these metal cans for one year, it would be equal to 3,934,118 cars taken off the road for that year. Recycled material products made from Aluminum Cans:
	* Picture frames * Decorative home décor: Bowls, vases, etc. * Baseball bats
* Newspapers and Magazines
	Americans throw away more paper than any other kind of trash. Recycling the pounds of magazines and newspapers the average household accumulates in a year saves trees AND contributes to the reduction of air pollution by 95%. an average household would save 581 pounds of CO2in one year. If everyone in the U.S. recycled their paper goods for one year, it would be equal to 5,511,566 cars taken off the road for that year.
	Recycled material products made from Newspapers and Magazines
	* Recycled content paper * Recycled content pressboard * Recycled content countertops, such as Richlite brand