Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Although all three R’s are the basic fundamentals of improving and sustaining our environment, we stress Recycling as the leading program having the potential to impact our society. Recycling is the key component of modern waste reduction and the driving force behind recent legislative laws.
Why Recycle? Recycling is an important way for individuals, businesses, and communities to invest in their future by saving money, time, and their environment. Reducing waste means conserving our landfills capacity and deterring the negative impact on the environment.
Over 50 percent of the aluminum cans produced are recycled.
A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That’s closed loop recycling at its finest!
Every minute of every day, an average of 113,204 aluminum cans are recycled.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your television for three hours.
Last year 54 billion cans were recycled saving energy equivalent to 15 million barrels of crude oil: America’s entire gas consumption for one day.
The total annual global volume of e-waste is expected to reach about 40 million metric tons. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that we generated 1.5 billion pounds of all kinds of e-waste in 2006. This includes an estimated 44 million computers and televisions.
Certain items are particularly harmful. For instance, CRT-based computer and television monitors contain on average four to eight pounds of lead, a highly toxic heavy metal.
E-waste should not be considered waste. It is a resource. Useful materials such as glass, copper, aluminum, plastic and other components can often be extracted and reused. Some manufacturers have even referred to e-waste as a valuable source of materials.
With an increasing array of environmentally-friendly options now available, people should consider recycling or donating their old electronic devices. With either choice, we can reduce the amount of e-waste and actually put our old items to good use.
Glass containers are 100 percent recyclable, and recovered glass is used as the majority ingredient in new glass containers.
The national recycling rate for glass containers is just over 25 percent, according to a 2005 study by the EPA.
Americans recycle nearly 13 million glass jars and bottles every day.
The typical glass processing facility can recycle up to 20 tons of glass per hour.
Every ton of glass that is recycled results in a ton of raw materials saved to process new glass, including 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash and 380 pounds of limestone.
Glass containers come in four different colors: clear, blue, brown and green; glass must be separated by color to ensure that new glass is not created from a mix of colors.
Most recycling programs will only accept glass containers because products such as drinking glasses, light bulbs, mirrors and Pyrex have been treated with contaminants when manufactured.
In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006 that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.
It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.
In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.
Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to decompose in a landfill.
If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week they would save 24 million bottles from being in the landfill; one month would save 112 million bottles and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.
Paper, by definition, is a complex matted web of cellulose fibers. Genuine parchment, authentic vellum, or papyrus are not true papers by this definition.
Making a paper requires nearly 3700 pounds of wood over 200 pounds of lime, 360 pounds of soda ash, and 24,000 gallons of water.
Making paper from raw materials we need to dispose of 84 pounds of air pollution, 36 pounds of water pollutants and 176 pounds of solid waste.
Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees and 3000 gallons of water.
Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than manufacturing paper from virgin timber.
Paper had an overall recycling rate of 35.3% in 1994. About 55.3% of corrugated boxes, 45.3% of newspapers, 19.3% of books, 30% of magazines, and 42.5% of office papers were recycled in.
Recovered paper is used to make a variety of products, including copier paper, paper towels and napkins, corrugated boxes, and hydraulic mulch.
Paper in the average business grows by 22% a year, meaning your paper will double in 3.3 years.
Americans use 100 million steel cans every day.
Recycling steel saves 75 percent of the energy that would be used to create steel from raw materials, enough to power 18 million homes.
Over 65 percent of the steel produced in the U.S. is recycled into new steel every year.
A ton of recycled steel saves 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone, since they are the raw materials for making new steel.
A steel frame for a 2,000 square-foot two-story house is equivalent to the material of about six recycled cars; a comparable wooden frame would take over 40 trees to produce.
Every day, Americans use enough steel and tin cans to make a steel pipe running from Los Angeles to New York and back.
The average American uses 142 steel cans per year.
Americans throw away enough iron and steel to continuously supply the nation's automakers.
Steel food and beverage cans are recycled into a variety of products including new cans, bicycle frames, and even new cars.