"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

RECYCLING FACTS

Aluminum can be recycled using 5% of the energy used to make the original product.

Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or computer for three hours.

Americans throw enough aluminum away every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.

Using recycled aluminum instead of virgin materials decreases water and air pollution and energy use by 95%.

You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.

Glass

Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours.

In the coming decade, Americans are projected to throw away over 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars.

Recycling saves 25-30% of the energy used to make glass from virgin materials.

Plastics

Americans throw away enough plastic bottles each year to circle the earth four times.

Every hour, we throw away 2.5 million plastic
bottles.(22 billion plastic bottles per year)

Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a sky jacket.

Steel 

Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone. 

Enough energy is saved each year by recycling steel to supply Los Angeles with electricity for almost 10 years.

The steel industry recycles nearly 19 billion steel cans into new products each year - about 600 cans recycled every second!

Paper

A 12-foot high wall could be built from NYC to Los Angeles with all of the office and writing paper thrown out in the U.S. each year.

Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees.

Every Sunday, the U.S. wastes nearly 90% of all the recyclable newspapers. This wastes about 500,000 trees. 

One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.

Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or 580 pounds per person. 

More than 1/3 of all paper fiber used to make paper comes from recycled paper.

Composting Facts

Almost one third of the waste stream by weight is organic waste like food, leaves, and grass.

A 1000-square-foot area of lawn can generate up to 500 pounds of grass clippings in a single growing season.

Use of compost can reduce the need and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Junk Mail

American's receive almost 4.5 million tons of junk mail per year.

About 44% of junk mail is never opened.

Every person in the US receives the equivalent of one and a half trees per year or approximately 560 pieces of junk mail per year.

The average person gets 1.5 personal letter per week compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail.

Approximately 40% of the solid waste mass that makes up our landfills are paper and cardboard.

100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail.

Your name is typically worth 3 to 20 cents each time it is sold.