By Krissy Brady / Source: Ecosalon

Maybe you started off with a passionate mission to recycle and do your part for the environment, but it’s since fallen by the wayside with an apathetic “thud.” Or maybe you’re one of the many who has fallen prey to the recycling myths polluting the atmosphere. Either way, it’s time to rekindle the flame and familiarize yourself with the recycling benefits you’re seriously missing out on.

Here are 6 recycling myths to leave at the landfill:

1. “I don’t have time to recycle.”

You have enough crammed into your schedule, the last thing you need is another responsibility added to your to-do list (which at this point is more of a scroll). Trust me, I get it. But really the only thing that takes time is the learning curve when you first get started. The maintenance can easily be bundled into other chores that are already part of your daily routine. For example, washing out recyclables when you wash your dishes, or dropping items off at the recycling center when you go grocery shopping.

You know what’s time-consuming? Paper taking five months to break down in a landfill, plastic bags taking a decade, and glass bottles taking one million years. You know, give or take.

2. “Landfills are roomy.”

They’re also a major source of groundwater pollution. According to the National Recycling Coalition, they create liquid waste called leachate—which is similar in composition to that of hazardous waste landfills—and contaminate the soil (remember that little movie called “Erin Brockovich”?). Recycling is about preventing pollution and saving natural resources, not saving landfill space.

Recycling benefits the bigger picture. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 75 percent of trash is reusable/recyclable, which should be enough of an incentive alone to go green.

3. “Recycling is too confusing.”

Here you go.

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