Upper Loup Natural Resources District

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Recycling Facts

Problematic Plastics

A plastic bag has an average "working lifespan" of 15 minutes
It takes various plastics anywhere from 10-1,000 years to degrade, for example, 1 plastic bottle can take 450+ years to degrade
It takes a 15 year old tree to produce 700 grocery bags
Every minute, 1 million plastic bags are used while less than 1% are recycled
Recycling 5 plastic bottles can make 1 polyester shirt

Adaptive Aluminum

A used aluminum can can be recycled and back on the shelf as a new can in 60 days
Making 1 new can takes the same amount of energy as it does to make 20 recycled cans
2/3 of aluminum ever produced is still in use today
Aluminum can be continuously melted down and recycled
It requires 95% less energy and water to recycle a can than it does to produce a new one from raw materials
Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours

Complications with Cardboard and Paper

Recycling cardboard takes 75% of the energy needed to produce new
Recycling 1 ton of cardboard can save 46 gallons of oil
Americans throw away enough office paper to build a 12 ft high wall from Seattle to New York each year (new wall per year)
Recycling a 3 ft tall stack of newspapers saves 1 tree
40% of all waste going to landfills is paper
Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper is thrown away each year in the US

Ghastly Glass

Glass can be recycled and remanufactured an infinite number of times
Recycling glass decreases related water pollution by 50%
Over a ton of natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled
A modern glass bottle takes 4,000 years to decompose-even longer in a landfill
If all of the glass bottles and jars that were collected through recycling in the US in 1994 were laid end to end, they would reach the moon and half way back to Earth
Recycling 1 glass jar saves enough electricity to power an 11 watt CFL bulb for 20 hours

Troublesome Tech (E-Waste)

E-waste includes: appliances, televisions, computers, stereos, common electronic devices, etc
In 2007, 82% (1.8 million tons) of E-waste ended up in landfills
E-waste constitutes 70% of toxic waste in the US
Only 12.5% of E-waste is recycled
It takes 530 lbs of fossil fuels, 48 lbs of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture 1 computer and monitor

Eclectic Environment

The US generates more waste than any other country (the US only represents 5% of the world population)
Recycling protects forests which in turn reduces CO2 emissions
Recycling conserves up to 95% of fresh water used in mining and manufacturing processes for many materials
If US recycling levels reach 75% it will be the environmental equivalent to removing 55 million cars from the US roads each year- we are currently at 21.4%
1 tree can filter ~60 lbs of pollutants from the air per year
Rainforests are cut down at a rate of 100 or more acres per minute
Oil doesn't wear out, it can be refined and reused
1 qt of improperly disposed oil can contaminate 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water (now think of that aquifer that is under our feet)

sources:

“RECYCLING FACTS.” Recycle Across America, Standardized Recycling Labels, www.recycleacrossamerica.org/recycling-facts.

USI. “Paper Recycling Facts.” University of Southern Indiana, www.usi.edu/recycle/paper-recycling-facts/.

“Recycling.” Glass Recycling Facts | Glass Packaging Institute, www.gpi.org/recycling/glass-recycling-facts.

“Electronic Waste Facts.” The World Counts, 24 Apr. 2014, www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Electronic-Waste-Facts.