Recycling is a daily activity in many households and communities, and there are a lot of reasons why it's so sensible: It reduces waste, creates jobs, and lessens the need for additional landfills. Products that can be recycled fit into one of three categories--recycled content, post-consumer content or recyclable products. Here are some facts for recycling that may encourage you to participate, if you're not already.
Paper Facts
Every person each year will use paper and wood products worth a 100-foot Douglas fir tree. In the United States during 2007, however, more than 56 percent of the paper consumed was recycled, exceeding all previous years. This equates to 360 pounds recycled for each man, woman, and child. Paper that's manufactured using recycled rather than raw materials releases fewer pollutants in the air, by 74 percent. Recycled paper uses only 60 percent of the energy required to manufacture paper made from raw materials. More than 400 paper mills in the United States use some recovered material in manufacturing their products. Half of those mills use recovered materials exclusively.
Aluminum Facts
About half of aluminum cans are made from recycled aluminum. The street value of the estimated 36 billion aluminum cans that actually found their way into landfills is $600 million dollars. One recycled aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 20 hours, a computer for three hours, or a television for two hours. The missed recycling opportunities of aluminum cans in 2006 would have been enough to supply energy needs to 1.8 million American homes, according to the Container Recycling Institute.
Glass Facts
Glass can be recycled repeatedly, with no loss in quality or cleanliness. New glass containers comprise 25 percent recycled glass. Recycling glass is highest in states requiring beverage container deposits, such as California, where glass bottle recovery nears 70 percent. A ton of greenhouse gas, in the form of carbon dioxide, does not find its way into the environment for each 6 tons of glass recycled.
Plastic Facts
Roughly 636 thousand tons of PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, plastic beverage bottles were recycled in the United States in 2006, but three times that amount, roughly 2 million tons of the bottles were not recycled, according to the Container Recycling Institute. In the United States, more than 80 percent of the population has access to plastic recycling programs. The average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006, that number jumped to 28.3 gallons, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.
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