Post on 11-Jan-2016
RecyclingBy: Ben Hearn
Josh Hamilton
Harley Chesser
General Recycling Americans create around 251 million (that’s
6 zeros) tons of waste every year 82 million – tons of materials recycled in the
United States 53.4 – percentage of all paper products
recycled in the United States 32.5 – percentage of total waste that is
recycled in the United States
General Recycling 100 – approximate percentage of increase in total
recycling in the United States during the past decade
95 – percentage of energy saved by recycling an aluminum can, compared with manufacturing a new one
4.6 – pounds of trash per person per day in the United States (most in the world)
1.5 – pounds of recycled materials per person per day in the United States
Paper Recycling Average paper use in 2001 was 700
pounds Recycling 1 short ton (.91) saves 17 mature
trees, and 4100 kilowatt hours enough to light a home for six months
115 billion sheets of paper are used for computer printers
Glass Recycling 752,000 tons of glass are now recycled
annually in the United Kingdom Helps in brick and ceramic manufacture,
and it conserves raw materials, reduces energy consumption, and reduces the volume of waste sent to landfill
One pound of used glass can be recycled into one pound of new glass
Glass Recycling 41 billion glass containers are produced in
the U.S. each year Recycling one ton of glass saves about
nine gallons of fuel oil Recycling one glass bottle saves enough
energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours
Plastic Recycling
Cardboard Recycling
Oil Recycling It can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for
heat or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses
It can also be sent to a refinery that specializes in processing used oil and re-refined into lubricating base oils that can be used to formulate engine oils
Oil Recycling If you recycle just two gallons of used oil it can
generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours.
Metal Recycling Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to produce
new aluminum from raw materials. Energy saved from recycling one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch. That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. Energy savings in 1993 alone were enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years.
Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
Metal Recycling Recycling steel and tin cans saves 74% of the energy used to
produce them.
Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.
Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis.
A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by about 70%.
When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you’d filled the same can half-full of gasoline and poured it into the ground.
Things to Know