Interesting Facts about Recycling and the Environment

Why recycle?

* Saves landfill space

* Saves natural resources

* Saves energy

* Creates jobs  

Making cans from recycled aluminum cuts related water pollution by 97%  Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run a television for three hours.  Manufacturing new aluminum cans from used beverage containers uses 95% less energy than producing them from virgin materials, an energy saving equivalent to tens of millions of barrels of oil each year. 

By recycling all the oil filters sold annually in the U.S., enough steel would be recovered to build 16 new baseball stadiums.  

80-90% of all lead acid (motor vehicle) batteries are recycled nationally. The average motor vehicle battery contains between 18-22 pounds of recoverable lead, a gallon of sulfuric acid, and about three pounds of polypropylene casing. 

It takes half a barrel of crude oil to produce the rubber in just one tire. (44 gal. = 1 barrel of oil) 

Every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, and 4,100 kilowatts of electricity.  It takes 500,000 trees to produce the Sunday papers printed in the U.S.  Every year, Americans dispose of enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the entire state of Texas.  If every American household recycled just one out of ten milk jug bottles (HDPE) they used, landfills would save 200 million pounds worth of space yearly. 

Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles per hour.  Making steel cans from recycled steel reduces energy consumption by 74%, virgin materials by 90%, associated air pollution by 86%, water consumption by 40%, and associated water pollution by 76%.  All steel products contain at least 25% recycled content.  Composting saves limited landfill space and turns garbage into a valuable resource.  It can reduce your trash and improve plant health and retain soil moisture with the use of the compost.  Nationally, it takes 15,000 tons of waste buried in a landfill to create one full-time job.  Recycling that material results in nine jobs.

:: Divya NCM.