Did You Know?
Trash Tidbits
- In this decade, it is projected that Americans will throw away over 1 million tons of aluminum cans and foil, more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars, over 4 and a half million tons of office paper and nearly 10 million tons of newspaper. Almost all of this material could be recycled. http://www.colorado.edu/curecycling
- Every year enough paper is thrown away to make a 12 foot wall from New York to California.
- The 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million. (Some day we'll be mining our landfills for the resources we've buried.)
- Enough aluminum is thrown away to rebuild our commercial air fleet every 3 months. http://www.colorado.edu/curecycling
- Every day, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million. That's the equivalent of dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week. If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of about 25 million trees per year. http://www.colorado.edu/curecycling
Recycling Facts
- Recycled aluminum saves 95% energy vs. aluminum; recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours (Reynolds Metal Company).
- You can make 20 recycled aluminum cans with the energy it takes to make one new aluminum can from bauxite ore (Windstar Institute).
- Five recycled soft drink bottles can make enough fiberfill fro a a man's ski jacket. Thirty-six recycled bottles can make one square yard of carpet (Colorado Recycles, 1995).
- Recycled glass saves 50% energy vs. virgin glass (Center for Ecological Technology). Recycling one glass container saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours (EPA).
- 1 ton of recycled paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24, 000 gallons of water. One ton of recycled papers uses: 64% less energy, 50% less water, 74% less air pollution and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.
- Recycling 1 ton of papers saves: 17 trees (35 feet tall), 2 barrels of oil (enough fuel to run the average car from Dallas to Los Angeles), 4100 kilowatt hours of energy (enough to power the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space (one family size pick-up truck) and 60 pounds of air pollution (Trash to Cash, 1996).