Recycling facts and figures

Source: https://www.thebalance.com

Lets have a look on some of the recycling facts and figures in order to better
understand how recycling is contributing to reducing consumption and enhancing
preservation of natural resources.
Plastic Recycling Facts

Around 66 percent of energy can be saved by producing plastic products from

recycled plastics instead of virgin materials.

1000 to 2000 gallons of gasoline can be saved recycling just one ton of
plastic.

Every hour, Americans use approximately 2.5 million plastic bottles. And most
of these are thrown away.

Annually, approximately 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam coffee cups are thrown

away in America.

Electronic Waste Recycling Facts

Currently, only 12.5 percent of electronic waste is recycled and the remaining
portion is discarded in landfills.

Every year, 20-50 million metric tons of electronic waste are disposed around
the world.

Electronic waste represents 2 percent of waste stream discarded in American

landfills, but it equals around 70 percent of toxic waste.

It takes 1.5 tons of water, 48 pounds of chemicals, and 539 pounds of fossil
fuel to produce just one computer.

Textile Recycling Facts

The average lifetime of a cloth is approximately 3 years. And nearly 100

percent of textiles and clothing are recyclable.

More than 13 million tons of used textile waste is generated in the USA.

The United States Textile recycling industry removes approximately 2.5 billion
pounds of post-consumer textiles each year from waste stream and the
industry creates more than 17,000 jobs.

The consumers are considered as the main offender for throwing away their
used clothing as only 15 percent of consumer used clothing is recycled where
more than 75 percent pre-use clothing is recycled by the manufacturers.

Paper Recycling Facts

Air pollution from paper production can be lessened by 73 percent if papers

are produced from recycled papers instead of virgin materials.

Every year, roughly 1 billion trees worth of paper are discarded in the U.S.

By weight, paper accounts for more than 50 percent of all recyclable waste
collected in USA.

In 2012, approximately 44 million tons of paper and paperboard were

recovered in USA and 65 percent 0f that was recycled.

Glass Recycling Facts

100 percent of all types of glasses are recyclable and can be recycled without
losing purity or quality.

More than 1 ton natural resources can be saved by recycling a ton of glass.

Recycling a thousand ton of glass can create jobs for 8 individuals.

Glasses that are thrown away in landfills never decompose.

Metal Recycling Facts

Recycling just one aluminum can saves sufficient energy to run a television
set for around 3 hours or one 100-watt bulb burning for 4 hours.

20 recycled aluminum cans can be produced with the energy required to

produce just one aluminum can using virgin ore.

According to EPA reports, in 2009, 50.7 percent of aluminum was recycled in

America.

Using recycled copper in copper processing saves 85 percent to 90 percent

energy requirements than using new copper from virgin ore.

Auto Recycling Facts

Each year, Automotive Recycling Industry in North American saves roughly

85 million barrels of oil from being used in production of new or replacement
automobile parts.

Each year, worldwide Auto Recycling Industry recycles more than 25 million
tons of waste materials which are collected from out of order cars.

According to reports, automobiles are the most recycled consumer products.

Currently 80 percent of discarded cars are recycled and the remaining 20

percent cant be recycled.

Other Recycling Facts

Only 1 gallon paint can contaminate up to 2,500,000 gallons of drinking water if not
disposed appropriately.

As per the deconstruction institute, every year United States building deconstruction
and demolition industry produces around 124,670,000 tons of debris that go to
landfills and only 2 percent of total waste building materials is recycled.
References

http://www.mrcpolymers.com/PlasticRecyclingFacts.php
http://alarecycling.com/facts/paper-recycling-facts/
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/paper/faqs.htm#recycle