There is absolutely no other action available today that can have this type of simultaneous positive impact so many things critical to our existence on this planet.
- For the economy:
- Recycling is a $200 billion industry in the U.S.
- Recycling generates 7-10 more jobs that landfills and waste to energy plants.
- Recycling properly creates valuable resources for U.S. manufacturing and can become a highly valuable export to countries such as China and India.
- For the environment:
- Recycling conserves finite natural resources – this is critical as population continues to grow exponentially.
- Recycling conserves fresh water up to 95% in the mining and manufacturing process for many materials.
- Recycling prevents waste from going into oceans – it is proven, when there is a strong recycling culture, there is less litter and less waste going into ocean
- Protects forests which help to reduce CO2 emissions
- Significantly reduces use of fossil fuel energy and reduces CO2 emissions
Additional facts to know:
- According to a recent Yale University/EPA study, the U.S. recycles less than 22% of its discarded materials.
- The U.S. recycling levels have not improved in 20 years despite the billions of dollars spent on recycling competitions, symposiums, awareness campaigns and new sorting technologies.
- Despite only representing 5% of the world population, the U.S. generates more waste than any other country in the world. (World Watch Institute)
- In less than 15 years, worldwide waste is expected to double. (World Watch Institute)
- One fact remains – if the public is confused when they approach the recycling bin, they will continue to: make mistakes, be apathetic and be skeptical about recycling – and therefore, contamination levels will continue to be high, recycling will continue to be economically crippled, recycling levels will not increase and environmental progress will be stalled
- Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12 foot high wall from Seattle to NY (a new wall every year).
- Making paper from recycled paper reduces the related contribution to air pollution 95%.
- Recycling a stack of newspaper just 3 feet high saves one tree.
- More than 37% of the fiber used to make new paper products in the U.S. comes from recycled sources.
Cardboard
- Recycling cardboard only takes 75% of the energy needed to make new cardboard.
- Recycling 1 ton of cardboard saves 46 gallons of oil.
- Over 90% of all products shipped in the US are shipped in corrugated boxes, which totals more than 400 billion square feet of cardboard.
- Nearly 80% of all retailers and grocers recycle their cardboard.
Compost
(food waste with food-soiled paper products)
- Food and paper waste used for food can be composted into nutrient rich soil and sold to farmers.
- Almost half of the food in the U.S. goes to waste – approximately 3,000 pounds per second.
- Food scraps make up almost 12% of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S.
- Many schools and businesses are starting to compost food waste on site.
Hard to Recycle Items
- Did you know that more than 80 percent of mattresses can be recycled?
- Glass can be recycled and re-manufactured an infinite amount of times and never wear out.
- Making glass from recycled material cuts related water pollution by 50%.
- Recycling just one glass jar saves enough electricity to light an 11 watt CFL bulb for 20 hours.
- More than 28 billion glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year — that is the equivalent of filling up two Empire State Buildings every three weeks.
Food Waste
(without paper products)
- Food waste can be used for composting and sold to farmers or it can be provided as a food source for local animal farms that meet federal, state and local regulations for food scrap usage.
- Almost half of the food in the U.S. goes to waste – approximately 3,000 pounds per second.
- Food scraps make up almost 12% of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S.
- Many schools and businesses are starting to compost food waste on site.
eWaste
- In 2007, 82% equalling 1.8 million tons of ewaste (various electronics e.g. TVs, cell phones, computers etc) ended up in landfills.
- In 1998, the National Safety Council study estimated about 20 million computers became obsolete within 1 year. In 2007, that number increased to 40 million.
- Electronic waste total approximately 2% of the waste stream in the U.S.
Several states have now created mandatory collection and recycling programs for electronics.