Recycling Facts and Trivia

Glass
Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the1,350 foot towers of the World Trade Center. Source: The Earth Works GroupRecycler’s Handbook
Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass. Source: The EarthWorks Group Recycler’s Handbook

Cans
In 1996, Americans recycled 63.5% of the 99 billion aluminum cans produced.Source: “Recycling and Buy Recycled Fact Sheets” America Recycles Day

In 1993, Americans recycled 59.5 billion aluminum cans, 3 billion more than in1991, and raised the national aluminum can recycling rate to 2 out of every 3cans. Aluminum can recycling saves 95% of the energy needed to makealuminum from bauxite ore. Energy savings in 1993 alone were enough to light acity the size of Pittsburgh for 6 years. Source: Can Manufacturing Institute



Paper
By recycling 1 ton of paper you save: 17 trees; 6,953 gallons of water; 463 gallons of oil;587 pounds of air pollution; 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space; and 4077 Kilowatt hours ofenergy. Source: Weyerhaeuser

Today, 62 million newspapers will be printed in the U.S., and 44 million will bethrown away. That means the equivalent of about 500,000 trees will be dumpedinto landfills this week. Source: The Earth Works Group Recycler’s Handbook

Plastic
Americans use 4 million plastic bottles every hour! – yet only 1 bottle out of 4 isrecycled. Source: 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Recycle. Earthworks Group

If you lined up all the polystyrene foam cups made in just one day, they would circle theearth. Source: 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Recycle. Earthworks Group

Misc.
Every year we dispose of 24 million tons of leaves and grass clippings, which could becomposted to conserve landfill space. Source: 1996 Environmental Defense Fun



How Can Recycling Help Endangered Salmon?

The salmon that live in the Pacific Northwest are endangered for many reasons,
including lower volumes of water in streams, pollution and soil run-off in the water.
Recycling can help save our salmon and humans because the production of many
recycled products uses less water and less energy, thus allowing higher volumes of
water in streams. Recycling also creates less pollution than the production of products from virgin materials. Preventing waste and recycling also reduce the demand for trees,preserving forests that absorb water, produce shade, and hold soil in place.

Myths & Facts

Myth: We can recycle only 25 to 30% of our solid wastes.
Fact: 25% was considered a maximum level in 1985. Today it should be
considered a minimum, not a maximum as some states have already exceeded
40%.

Myth: Landfills and incinerators are more cost-effective and environmentally sound
than recycling options.

Fact: Recycling programs, when designed properly, are cost-competitive with
landfills and incinerators, and provide net pollution prevention benefits.
Recycling materials not only avoids the pollution that would be generated
through landfilling and incinerating these, but also reduces the environmental
burden of virgin materials extraction and manufacturing processes.

Myth: Landfills are significant job generators for rural communities.
Fact: Recycling, where instituted, creates many more jobs for rural and urban
communities than landfill and incineration disposal options.