Before you toss that next soda can in the trash, consider this: Each year, Americans discard enough aluminum cans to rebuild our entire domestic airline fleet … once every three months. That’s 2.6 million tons of aluminum ending up in landfills, rather than recycling bins.

As our nation celebrates its 38th Earth Day, we face critical environmental challenges, from climate change to air and water pollution. No lone silver bullet can cure the planet’s environmental ills. But recycling is one simple, yet remarkably effective, step that should not be overlooked.

Recycling has dual economic and environmental benefits. Municipalities and businesses, for example, can save money by diverting waste from landfills to recycling centers. Take the U.S. Postal Service’s Dallas District operation, which, in 2004, transported nearly 7,500 tons of mixed paper and another 360 tons of cardboard to central hubs for recycling. These efforts produced more than $319,000 in revenue and saved the district $245,000 in trash hauling costs.

Recycling also saves energy, which means reduced greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The calculation is simple: Manufacturing new soda cans from recycled aluminum requires 95 percent less energy than using virgin materials, while producing paper with a high post-consumer content can cut energy use by almost two-thirds.

In fact, recycling just one ton of aluminum cans conserves the amount of energy in more than 1,600 gallons of gasoline. Buying recycled means cutting down fewer trees, drilling for less oil, mining fewer minerals and, ultimately, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As a nation, we generate more trash today than ever before — 250 million tons annually, almost 25 percent more than we did just 15 years ago. Fortunately, over the same time frame, the United States has also steadily improved when it comes to recycling, doubling the amount of waste we recycle.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2006, the United States recycled 82 million tons of materials for a recycling rate of 33 percent, offsetting the release of nearly 50 million tons of carbon. That’s the equivalent to the emissions from 39 million cars each year.

As much progress as we’ve made, however, we still lag behind many European countries. Germany, for instance, recycles about 60 percent of its discarded materials. So how can we do better?

First, we need to encourage more companies and local governments to get into the recycling game.

To that end, I’ve introduced — along with my fellow co-chairman of the Senate Recycling Caucus, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) — the Recycling Investment Saves Energy Act (RISE). Among other things, our legislation would provide tax incentives designed to help companies write off the costs of new recycling equipment.

In addition, I pushed for changes in the climate change legislation authored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I.-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) that would direct some of the revenues generated by sale of carbon offsets toward promoting new recycling initiatives at the state and local levels.

More broadly, we must create incentives to promote a cradle-to-grave approach to recycling.

Providing financial incentives to manufacturers to ensure that their old products end up back in consumers’ hands, not in landfills, would help close the gap between recycling and re-using recycled materials. And as consumer demand for recycled products grows, a self-sustaining market for recycled goods will emerge for everything from recycled plastic food containers to carpets made from recycled fiber.

This Earth Day should serve as a reminder that meeting today’s environmental challenges requires a shared commitment to change. Congress, along with state and local governments, is taking action, but the wheels of government are no match for the collective will of the American people. Each of us can do something. Recycling more and consuming less are good places to start on this Earth Day 2008.

Carper is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.