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Why Recycling Makes Sense


                The Facts

  • Trash by weight is 34.2 percent paper, 5.2 percent glass, 7.6 percent metal,  11.7 percent food waste, 11.9 percent plastic, 13.1percent yard waste and 16.3 percent other trash. 54.3 percent of garbage is buried in landfills, 13.6 percent is burned in incinerators, 23.8 percent is recycled, and 8.4 percent is recovered through composting.
  • The U.S., while having 5 percent of the world’s population, produces 25 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
  • One acre of trees can absorb the carbon dioxide produced by driving a car 26,000 miles.
  • It takes 14  20 oz. PET bottles to make one square foot of carpet.

 Recycling conserves landfill space and saves energy
Recycling aluminum cans requires 95% less energy than producing cans
Recycling 1 ton of material saves 3 cubic yards of landfill space
20 recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce 1 can
34.2 percent of all landfill trash is a paper product
Yearly, we dispose of 12.2 million tons of leaves and grass clippings, which could be composted to conserve landfill space
Recycling 1 ton of newspaper uses 70% less energy than producing the same ton from virgin materials and saves the same amount of electricity used in a typical home in 6 months
Each American generates about 4.54 pounds of trash/day of which 1.08 pounds is recycled, 0.38 is composted, 0.62 is incinerated and 2.46 is discarded into a landfills
Increasing steel recycling 50% would save the energy equivalent of 7 nuclear power plants
   

 Recycling conserves natural resources and preserves air and water quality
Wasting of our natural resources is reduced and our limited domestic supplies of certain raw materials are extended.            
Recycling helps preserve the quality of our air and water. Using recycled materials over again creates less pollution than starting from scratch with virgin materials.
Recycling 1 ton of glass saves the equivalent of 9 gallons of oil.
 Recycling 1 ton of newspaper produces 50 percent fewer pollutants than making 1 ton from virgin materials.
Recycling 1 ton of newspaper saves 17 trees and uses 60 percent less water. 
Manufacturing processes using recycling paper do not generate a by-product hazardous waste known as “liquor.”

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