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Recycling and Environmental Facts
Click on a Link Below for A Specific Topic
General Recycling
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Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the
average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the
average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds
of air pollution. Trash to Cash |
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About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate
is just 28%. Environmental Protection Agency |
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Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling.
Colorado Recycles |
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The
U.S. is 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of its natural resources.
Environmental Protection Agency |
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In 1988, there were 600
curbside recycling programs in the US. Now there are more than 9,340 programs, over 12,000
drop-off centers, and 480 material recovery facilities to process collected
materials.
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 |
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In 1991, the US recycling
rate was 17%. Now it is estimated at 30% (including composting).
Environmental
Protection Agency, 2000 |
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The number and availability
of recycled products has increased. In 1990, the Recycled Products Guide listed 170
items; today, more than 5,000 recycled content products are available.
Environmental Protection
Agency, 2003 |
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From 1967 to 2000, the
recycling industry experienced yearly employment growth rates of 8.3 percent.
In comparison, total US employment grew 2.1 percent annually in this time.
Biocycle, 2003 |
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Recycling and composting
diverted 64 million tons of material from landfills and incinerators in 1999, up
from 34 million tons in 1990.
EPA, 2000
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Americans represent only 5
percent of the world’s population, but generate 30 percent of the world’s garbage.
America Recycles Day, 2003
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On a national average,
American garbage consists of:
37% paper and paperboard
5% glass
8% metals
11% plastics
11% food
12% yard trimmings
15% other (textiles,
rubber, leather, wood...)
Environmental Protection
Agency, 2000
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Landfills are the largest
source of anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions, accounting for 32% of the total US methane
emissions. EPA,
2004
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The number of landfills in
the US decreased from 8000 in 1989 to 2216 in 2000, despite no change in total capacity. EPA Draft Report
on the Environment, 2002
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Economics of Recycling
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Recycling collection and
processing, and manufacturing with recycled materials employed 952,614 people in 2001, and
paid $34 billion in wages.
National Recycling
Coalition, 2001
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Recycling activities employ
more than 2.5% of manufacturing workers. Recycling and remanufacturing activities
could account for approximately 1 million manufacturing jobs and more than $100 billion
in revenue.
White House Task Force on Recycling, 1998
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Percentage of energy saved
by using recycled instead of raw materials to manufacture:
40% glass 40% newspaper60%
steel 70% plastics
95% aluminum (75% when
recycled back into aluminum beverage cans)
Natural Resources
Defense Council, Aluminum Association
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For every six-pack of soda
or beer not recycled, the energy equivalent of one beverage can full of gasoline is
squandered.
Container Recycling Institute, 2001
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Industrialized countries,
such as the US, represent only 20% of the world’s population.
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However, they consume 80%
of the world’s resources, 85% of the world’s forest products,
75% of the world’s energy
and produce 75% of the world’s pollution and waste.
Trash to
Cash, 1996
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Total urbanized land in the
US increased 47% from 1982-1997, while the population
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increased only 17%.
Brookings Institution,
2001
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Today the planet adds 77
million people each year, the equivalent of 10 New York Cities.
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Worldwatch Institute,
2002
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The population grows as
much every three days as it did every century, on average, for most
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of the last one-thousand
centuries before the Industrial Revolution.
Worldwatch Institute,
1999
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The majority of our energy
comes from fossil fuels: oil, natural gas, and coal. Fossil fuels
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formed over millions of
years from the fossils or remains of dead animals and plants.
Because it takes millions
of years to “create” more fossil fuels, we call them nonrenewable
resources. Once we use up
all of the current fossil fuels, they are gone to us forever!
U. S.
Department of Energy,
1995
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In 2002, the US consumed
nearly 20 million barrels of oil per day, over 3.5 times the second
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largest consumer (China).
Energy Information Administration, 2002
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The US consumed over 23% of
the world’s natural gas and 20% of the world’s coal in 2001.
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Energy Information
Administration, 2003
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Indoor lighting use
is highest during the hours of 9 to 5, even though the light bulb was
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invented to help us see in
the dark.
University of Colorado Environmental Center, 2003
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It takes less gasoline to
restart your car than it does to let it idle for more than a minute. If all
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the cars on US roads had
properly inflated tires, it would save an estimated 2 billion gallons
of gasoline per year and
improve your gas mileage 3-7%.
University of Colorado
Environmental Center,
2003
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If every car carried
one more passenger during its daily commute, 32 million gallons of
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gasoline would be saved
each day.
Natural Resources Defense Council, 2003
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According to the EPA, the
typical American household can save about $400 per year in
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energy bills with products
that carry the Energy Star label.
Natural Resources Defense
Council, 2003
Steel &
Aluminum Recycling
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Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of
airplanes every 3 months. Environmental Defense Fund |
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Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3
hours. Eco-Cycle |
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The
energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power
used by 18 million homes each year - or enough energy to power the combined
residents of Montgomery County, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Baltimore
and Washington, D.C. for eight years. Steel Recycling Institute
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By the year 2006, all cars
made in Europe must be taken back free of charge by their producers, and 80% of the
vehicle must be re-used or recycled.
European Union End of Life Vehicle Directive, 2000 |
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There were 26 cars recycled
every minute across the US in 2001.
Steel Recycling Institute, 2003 |
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In the US, 52% of all major
appliances are recycled.
EPA, 1999 |
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Recycling aluminum saves
90-95% of the energy used to make aluminum from bauxite ore.
It also saves 95% of the
air and water pollution.
Windstar Institute
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You can make 20 recycled
aluminum cans with the energy it takes to make one new
aluminum can from bauxite
ore. Community
Recycling, Belington, Washington
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Replacing one wasted can
requires the energy equivalent to light a 100-watt light bulb for 5
hours or to power the
average laptop computer for 11 hours.
Container Recycling
Institute,
2001
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In 2000, Americans recycled
55% of aluminum cans. Most of the aluminum recovered from
the waste stream (cans,
foil, pie plates, etc.) is used to manufacture new cans.
Environmental
Protection Agency, 2000
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Fifty-eight percent of
steel cans were recycled in 2000.
Environmental Protection
Agency,
2000
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Every ton of recycled steel
conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and
120 pounds of limestone.
Steel Recycling
Institute, 2003
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The production of one ton
of aluminum ingot requires 4-5 tons of bauxite ore.
Container
Recycling Institute,
2001
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Aluminum can
consumption rose to 50.7 billion cans in 2001, while aluminum can waste
grew 28% between 1990 and
2001. Container
Recycling Institute, 2001
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The energy needed to
replace all the aluminum cans wasted each year is equivalent to 16
million barrels of
oil—enough to keep a million American cars on the road for a year.
Container Recycling
Institute, 2001
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Aluminum cans comprise only
1.4% of a ton of garbage by weight, but they account for
14.1% of the greenhouse gas
impacts of replacing an average ton of garbage with new
products made from virgin
materials.
Container Recycling Institute, 2001
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The mining, processing, and
manufacturing necessary to produce aluminum cans are responsible for large
quantities of toxic solid wastes, the widespread destruction of wildlife habitat, and the
displacement hundreds of thousands of indigenous people around the world.
Container Recycling
Institute, 2002
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Paper Recycling
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Over ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County.
Eco-Cycle |
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If
we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we
would save 550,000 trees--or about 26 million trees per year. California
Department of Conservation |
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If
every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber
bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48
million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water.
Seventh Generation Co. |
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In 2000, recycling
prevented 49 million tons of paper products from going into landfills.
American Forests &
Paper Association, 2000
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Recycling 1 ton of paper
saves:
·
17 trees (35’ tall), 2
barrels of oil (enough fuel to run the average car for 1,260
miles or from Dallas to Los
Angeles)
·
4,100 kilowatts of energy
(enough power for the average home for 6 months)
·
3.2 cubic yards of landfill
space (one family-size pickup truck)
·
60 pounds of air pollution
Trash to Cash,
1996
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In 2000, 45.4 % of the
total paper generated in the US was recycled, up from 28 % in 1990.
Environmental
Protection Agency, 2000
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One-third of all trees
logged are used for paper production.
New Leaf Paper, 2001
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The average US citizen uses
more than 300 kg of paper annually, and the average Japanese
citizen uses 250 kg of
paper per year. In contrast, people in developing countries use only
18 kg of paper per year on
average. (The United Nations estimates that 30-40 kg of paper is
the minimum needed to meet
basic literacy and communications needs.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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Producing one ton of paper
requires 2-3 times its weight in trees. Newly cut trees account for 55% of the global paper
supply, while 38% is from recycled wood-based paper, and the remaining 7% comes from
non-tree sources.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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The pulp and paper industry
is the world’s fifth largest industrial consumer of energy and uses more water to produce
a ton of product than any other industry.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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Making paper from recycled
content rather than virgin fiber creates 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent
less water pollution, yet the share of total paper fiber coming from recycled material has grown
only modestly from 20% in 1921 to 38% today.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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Environmental Defense
estimates that if the entire US catalog industry switched its publications to just 10
percent recycled content paper, the savings in wood alone would be enough to stretch a
5 foot high fence across the United States seven times.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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The United States produces
and uses a third of the world’s paper. Forests in the southeastern US now supply
a quarter of the global total.
Worldwatch Institute, 2004
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Global paper consumption is
expected to double in 15 years.
New Leaf Paper, 2001
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In 2000, the US generated
232 million tons of municipal solid waste - an average of 4.5 pounds of waste per person
per day. About one third of that refuse is paper and paperboard products.
Environmental Protection
Agency, 2002
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One year’s worth of
America’s holiday cards would fill a football field ten stories high. BRING Recycles, 2003
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The item most
frequently encountered in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills is plain old paper—on average, it
accounts for more than 40 percent of a landfill's contents. Newspapers alone can take
up as much as 13 percent of the space in US landfills.
EPA, 2003
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Landfill studies have
unearthed 35-year-old newspapers that were still legible and 15-year old onions that were still
recognizable.
American Plastics Council, 2003
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Ten percent of the average
grocery bill pays for packaging. That accounts for more than the farmer receives.
Kansas Department of
Health and Environment, 2001
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Forty-three percent of landfilled or incinerated municipal discards, by weight, is packaging and containers, or
disposable products such as paper and plastic plates and cups, diapers, junk mail, trash bags, and
tissue paper and towels.
EPA, 1998
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Twenty years ago, the
average old growth tree harvested from our National Forests was 24 inches in diameter. Today
the average is 14.3 inches.
City of Boulder Office of Environmental Affairs,
2003
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Glass Recycling
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Recycling glass, instead of
making it from silica sand, reduces mining waste by 75% and air pollution by 20%.
Lehigh County Solid
Waste Management, 2003
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Food and beverage
containers make up 91% of the glass waste that is generated. In 2000, 26% of all glass food and
beverage containers were recycled.
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000
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Glass takes more than one
million years to decompose in our landfills.
California
Department of
Conservation, 2003
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Tire + Electronic
Recycling
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It takes 70% less oil
to retread old tires than it does to make new tires. Most retread tires contain 75% recycled
material. Tire
Retread Information Bureau, 2003
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There are 4-8 pounds of
lead in every computer monitor, and there is lead in most of the solder points in electronic
product circuit boards. Between 1997 and 2004, 315 million computers became obsolete,
along with millions of other electronic products.
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 2004
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Within three years,
Americans will be throwing away 130 million mobile phones per year, amounting to 65,000 tons of
waste. This waste contains toxic chemicals such as arsenic, beryllium, copper, lead,
cadmium, nickel, and zinc. These chemicals have been linked to cancer and neurological
disorders.
University of Colorado Recycling, 2003
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A 150 watt personal
computer system (CPU, monitor, and printer) uses 1,314 kWh per year if left on continuously. To
generate that much electricity, it takes the energy equivalent of more than 1000 pounds of
coal or 100 gallons of oil.
Planning for Higher
Education Journal, 2003
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Air Quality
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Recycling helps to slow the
build-up of greenhouse gases and reduces the pollutants that
contribute to acid rain.
Worldwatch Institute
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Respiratory disease has
increased nearly 50 percent in the last decade.
City of Boulder Office of Environmental
Affairs, 2003
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US carbon emissions rose
18.1% between 1990 and 2000. US emissions stand at more than double the second leading
emitter (China), and amount to 5 tons per capita per year. Worldwatch Institute,
2002
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Production of CFCs dropped
87% from 1989 to 1997.
Worldwatch Institute, 2002
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More than 133 million
people lived in areas where monitored air quality in 2001 was unhealthy because of high
levels of at least one criteria air pollutant.
EPA Draft Report on the Environment, 2002
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Natural visibility in the
western US is 124-186 miles. Pollution levels during 1999 dropped average visibility to 50
miles. EPA Draft
Report on the Environment, 2002
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Ultraviolet (UV) radiation
levels have increased 6-14 percent in both hemispheres since the 1980’s, due to thinning of
the ozone level.
Environmental Defense
Fund, 2003
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Operating a commercial leaf
blower for one half hour produces the hydrocarbon equivalent of driving a new 1999-2000
light duty vehicle at 30 mph for more than 2 round trips between Denver and New York
City. California
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000
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Water Resources
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About 86 percent of US
landfills are currently leaking toxic materials into lakes, streams,
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and aquifers. Once
groundwater is contaminated, it is extremely expensive and difficult,
to clean it up.
EPA, 2003
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One percent of the Earth’s
surface is covered by fresh water. The majority of terrestrial animals, including humans,
depend on this 1% for survival.
Worldwatch Magazine, 1995
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A faucet that drips once
each second can waste over 8 gallons of water per day and over 3,150 gallons per year.
American Water Works
Association, 2003
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Most acid rain comes from
emissions of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide from industrial or transportation sources.
These turn into sulfuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere. These acids are deposited into
the soil, lakes, and rivers when it rains.
EPA, 2004
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Acid rain causes the
acidity levels of rivers and lakes to become too high. When this happens, fish cannot
reproduce and soon die out. Acid rain also causes heavy metals to enter the tissue of fish,
making them toxic for human consumption.
Sierra Club, 1990
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Acid rain damages forests,
soil quality, statues, and buildings.
Eco-Cycle, 2004
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Rain that is 10 to 40 times
as acidic as normal rainfall has been occurring frequently in parts of New England and New
York. Wellford,
Wegman, Knulwich, and Hoff
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Roughly 10% of streams and
20% of drinking wells in farming areas exceed federal drinking water standards for
nitrate. EPA
Draft Report on the Environment, 2002
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Six percent of community
water systems do not meet all health-based standards in 2002.
EPA Draft Report on the
Environment, 2002
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In the US, 15% of river
miles, 33% of lake acreage, and 100% of the Great Lakes and their connecting waters are under
fish consumption advisories.
EPA, 2003
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Twenty states have fish
consumption advisories on 100% of their lake acreage; 18 states have 100% of their river
acreage under fish consumption advisories.
EPA, 2003
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Watering non-lawn areas
with drip irrigation rather than sprinkler heads can reduce water use up to 70 percent. City of Boulder
Planning and Public Works, 2003
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Water-conserving fixtures
installed in US households in 1998 alone save 44 million gallons of water every day,
resulting in total dollar-value savings of more than $33.6 million per year.
American Water Works
Association, 2003
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It takes about 4,776
gallons of water to raise a Christmas tree.
American Water Works Association, 2003
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On average, 50 to 70
percent of home water is used outdoors for watering lawns and gardens.
American Water Works
Association, 2003
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Daily indoor per capita
water use in the typical single-family home with no water-conserving fixtures is 74 gallons. American Water
Works Association, 2003
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If all US households
installed water-saving features, water use could decrease by 30 percent, saving an
estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day. This would result in dollar-volume savings of $11.3 million
per day or more than $4 billion per year.
American Water Works Association, 2003
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Global water consumption is
doubling every 20 years, twice the rate of population growth. Environmental Defense
Fund, 2003
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Americans tap into 341
billion gallons of the US freshwater resources every day. Of the amount withdrawn, only 1%
is used for drinking. About 41% is used for agriculture, 39% for hydroelectric
power, 6% for industrial use, and 6% is used for household purposes.
American Water Works
Association, 2003
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On average only 2.3% of
wastewater is reused. In areas of the country where reuse is required or mandated,
20-25% of an area’s water budget is recycled water.
American Water Works Association, 2003
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Urban stormwater runoff
is the largest source of impairment in US coastal waters and the second largest source of
water pollution in US estuaries.
Environmental Protection
Agency, 2000
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Thirty years after the
signing of the Clean Water Act, 218 million Americans live within 10 miles of a polluted lake,
river, or coastal water.
Natural Resources Defense
Council, 2002
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More than 4 billion gallons
of water get flushed down the toilet every day in the US. Natural Resources
Defense Council, 2003
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The average household uses
over 22,000 gallons of water per year just for showers and baths.
Center for a New American
Dream, 2003
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Wetlands are rich in plant
life, which attracts large numbers of animals. Some 5,000 species of plants, 190 species of
amphibians, and 1/3 of all bird species in the US are found in wetlands.
Almanac of the
Environment, National Audubon Society, 1994
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Eleven percent of the
world’s reefs are now regarded as permanently lost; that share may rise to 40% by 2010.
Worldwatch Institute, 2002
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Globally, 58% of coral
reefs are imperiled by human activity such as over-fishing, sewage
runoff, sedimentation, and
dredging.
Environmental Defense Fund, 2003
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Ninety percent of all large
fish have disappeared from the world’s oceans due to the last fifty years of industrial
fishing. Nature,
2003
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Today 505 million people
live in countries that are water stressed or water scarce; that number is expected to reach
between 2.4 and 3.4 billion people by 2025.
Worldwatch Institute, 2002
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Rainforest
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Coffee, bananas, rice,
tomatoes, corn, potatoes, chocolate, sugar, spices, wicker, rubber,
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vanilla, oranges, lemons,
limes and peanuts are some of the products that were discovered
in tropical rainforests.
National
Wildlife Federation
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One fourth of all drugs
prescribed in the US contain derivatives from tropical forest plants.
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Rainforest Action Group
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We have already destroyed
half of the original rainforest. At the current rate of destruction—
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95 acres every minute, we
will completely eradicate all rainforests by the year 2050.
Earth
Care Paper Company
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Today, tropical forests
supply about 30% of the world’s log exports, 12% of sawn wood
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exports, and 60% of plywood
and veneer exports.
Worldwatch Institute
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The US imports
approximately 800 million pounds of paper annually from Brazil’s forests.
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Earth Care Paper
Company
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In tropical forests, it is
estimated that 50,000 species become extinct each year. That is 137
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species a day or 6 species
an hour. Edward
Wilson, 2x Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard
Biologist
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The US consumes 33 percent
of the world’s timber and paper.
World Wildlife Fund and
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World Resources
Institute, 1998
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Less than 1% of the
tropical rainforest species that have been identified have been thoroughly
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examined for their chemical
compounds.
Rainforest Action Network, 2003
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Rainforests cover 2% of the
Earth’s surface yet house over half of Earth’s plant and animal
species.
Rainforest Action Network,
2003
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Seventy percent of the
plants identified by the National Cancer Institute as useful in cancer
treatment are only found in
the rainforest.
Rainforest Action Network, 2003
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Global tropical natural
forests declined by nearly 13 million hectares from 1990-1995 only,
compared to roughly 15
million hectares from 1980-1990.
UN Food and Agricultural
Organization, 1997
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Americans use about 27% of
the worldwide commercial wood harvest.
Center for a New
American Dream, 2003
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There are more roads in our
National Forests than in the entire US Interstate Highway
system.
National Forest Protection
Alliance
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80% of the world’s large
tracts of ancient forests have already been logged.
New Leaf
Paper, 2001
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76 countries have lost all
their original forest cover.
New Leaf Paper, 2001
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Seven out of ten biologists
believe we are in a mass extinction, the fastest in Earth’s history.
American Museum of
Natural History, 1998
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Some 50% of the world’s
flora and fauna could be on the path to becoming extinct within the next one hundred years. National
Geographic, 1998
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A total of 12, 259 species
of plants and animals are known to face a high risk of extinction in the near future, in almost
all cases as a result of human activities. This includes 24% (1 in
4) mammal species and 12%
(1 in 8) bird species.
World Conservation Union,
2003
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According to a United
Nations Environmental Program report, nearly a quarter of the
world’s mammals face
extinction within the next thirty years.
BBC News, 2002
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The US leads the world with
29% of the total identified plant species in our country labeled
as threatened with
extinction. The
World Conservation Union, 1998
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