On average, schools throw away about 38 tons of paper every year, which is about 644 trees. For every ton of paper that is recycled in schools, it saves approximately 17 trees.Continue Reading
As of 2015, less than 35 percent of homes and less than 10 percent of businesses recycle. The average person creates about 4 pounds of trash every day and 1.5 tons of trash a year. Much of this trash is recyclable, including paper, plastic, aluminum and other materials. Schools can do their part by encouraging students to put recyclable items into recycling bins instead of the regular trash can. This includes when throwing away sheets of paper, paper bags from their lunch, plastic lunch baggies, boxed juice and aluminum soda cans.
It is estimated that while 75 percent of waste is recyclable, only about 30 percent of it is being recycled. Just one aluminum can being recycled gives enough energy to listen to an album on an MP3 player. Recycling 100 cans could give a room light for two weeks.
Encouraging schools to have a recycling bin next to every trash bin makes it as easy as possible to recycle, as does teaching students what can and can’t be recycled.Learn more about K-12