Today is America Recycles Day, a reminder about the importance of recycling. Many don’t realize the importance of recycling their one plastic bottle of water or their one newspaper, but here are some interesting statistics from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality that show how one can lead to many, and how many can lead to a mountain:

• Every 3.9 seconds, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to reach the height of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
• Every 17.3 seconds, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to reach the height of the Bank of America Building in Charlotte.
• Every 1.3 minutes, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to reach the distance of the first Wright brothers’ flight.
• In the time it takes you to brush your teeth (2 minutes), North Carolinians send 4,657 plastic drink bottles to a landfill.
• Every hour, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the length of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte 22.9 times.
• Every 75 minutes, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to equal the weight of a Fort Bragg F16 fighter plane.
• In the times it takes you to watch the Super Bowl (3.5 hours), North Carolinians send 978,092 plastic drink bottles to a landfill.
• Every week, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the Outer Banks 28 times.
• In a year, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the Blue Ridge Pkwy 642 times.
• In a year, North Carolinians throw away enough plastic bottles to line the length of I-40 (in N.C.) 715 times.

Recycling is critical. In the past two decades, it’s become an important part of what’s called the circular economy, in which the reuse of products, rather than new products, has become a part of manufacture design. Paper, for example, can have several lives: paper used for print and writing is recycled into corrugated boxes and other packaging. In fact, paper can be recycled several times before it needs previously unused fiber.

According to the NCDEQ, producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials. Saving energy, cutting costs, are always good.

So, before you toss that water bottle away because there’s not a convenient recycling bin, or throw away paper because it’s a habit, stop and take a moment to think about the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Wright brothers’ flight path at Kitty Hawk or the fall beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway and imagine that places strewn with plastic bottles or paper — some of which could be yours.

If America Recycles, then Beaufort County should do its part.