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