Recycling conserves energy, reduces impact to landfills and cuts pollution. Some facts about recycling, however, are not so well-known. For example, you can recycle the tinfoil on your candy kiss wrappers, though most people don't. Just one manufacturer for these uses 133 square miles of tinfoil daily to wrap more 20 million of the candies, according to the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
Significance
Each person in the United States produces about 4.5 lb. of trash daily, with paper products making up the largest proportion of that trash at 40 percent, according to the state of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, or CDEP. Meanwhile, some 35 percent of the wood harvested worldwide is used to make paper. It takes some 3,688 lb. of wood, 360 lb. of salt cake, 216 lb. of lime, 76 lb. of ash, 24,000 gallons of water and 28 billion BTUs of energy to make a single ton of virgin, bleached paper. When one ton of paper is recycled, it saves an acre of trees.
Considerations
Americans throw out enough aluminum each and every month to rebuild the United States' entire commercial air fleet, according to the Oberlin College Resource Conservation Team of Ohio, or OCRCT. In fact, each time you toss a can, you waste the same energy as if you'd filled your can half-full of gasoline then poured the gas on the ground. One ton of aluminum recycled saves the same amount of energy that the average home uses over 10 years. Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours. Recycling that same can could power a television for two hours or a computer for three hours. When aluminum is recycled, it saves 95 percent of the energy needed to create new aluminum from raw materials. That's important because some 350,000 aluminum cans are produced each minute. When an aluminum can gets recycled, it can become a new can within six weeks, according to the Santa Rosa County Citizen Service Center.
Metal Recycling
Americans toss enough iron and steel to supply the entire nation's automakers on a continuous basis, according to OCRCT, though steel is the most recycled material in the country. In fact, people in the U.S. use 100 million tin and steel cans daily. When you recycle a steel or tin can, it saves 74 percent of the energy used to produce it from raw materials. With the steel currently recycled, enough energy is saved each year to supply the city of Los Angeles with electricity for almost a decade, according to Western Michigan University.
Glass Recycling
To produce one ton of glass, it takes 1,330 lb. of sand, 433 lb. of limestone, 433 lb. of soda ash, 151 lb. of fledspar, and 15.2 BTUs of energy, according to CDEP. When you recycle one glass bottle you save enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours, according to officials in the Fairfax County, Virginia recycling and trash department , or FCRT. Jars and bottles now contain at least 25 percent recycled glass. Some states have bottle deposit laws, resulting in 35 t0 40 percent less litter by volume.
Expert Insight
According to OCRCT, if each American household recycled one out of 10 plastic bottles used, the amount of plastic in landfills would be reduced by 200 million lb. every year. People in the United States go through 25 billion plastic bottles annually and make enough plastic film each year to shrink-wrap the state of Texas. In addition to new bottles, recycled plastic juice, soda and water bottles can be used to make insulating materials in clothes and carpets, auto parts, scouring pads, paint brushes and tennis balls, according to FCRT. To make a 6-foot plastic park bench, it takes about 1,050 recycled milk jugs. Just 26 recycled PET bottles can be used for a polyester suit, while five can stuff a ski jacket with fiberfill. About half of the polyester carpet produced in the U.S. is made from recycled plastic, according to CDEP.
References
- Oberlin College Resource Conservation Team: Recycling Facts
- Western Michigan University: Fun Recycling Facts
- State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection: Fun Recycling Facts
- Massachusetts Recycling Coalition: Why Should I Recycle?
- Waste Online: Aluminium and Steel Recycling Fact Sheet
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