Recycling Facts

Recycling Facts 

 

Recycling is becoming a way of life for those in civilised countries. Our awareness of limited resources and environmental pollutants has forced us to rethink how we view our manufacturing processes, and re-examine our choices. Here are some interesting recycling facts to get you thinking more about it.

  • Only 25% of a tree is used in the manufacturing of a paper product.
  • Out of the over 4 million plastic water bottles that are used each hour in the United States, only one quarter find their way in to recycling bins.
  • Glass can be recycled over and over an infinite amount of times.
  • It takes roughly 400 years for plastic to break down sitting in a landfill.
  • A glass bottle would require one million years in a landfill to completely break down.
  • You can run a television for over 3 hours on the energy you save by recycling only one can made from aluminium.
  • An aluminium can may be recycled over and over and over… there is no limit.
  • Two hundred and fifty million trees could be saved this year if everyone recycled their newspapers.
  • 13,000 individual pieces of paper get thrown out by the average household every year.
  • Every Chrismas, it is estimated that we throw away over 227 thousand miles of wrapping paper in the UK.
  • Over 1 million sea creatures die each year as a result of carelessly discarded plastic items.

 

Discarded Plastic Items

 

Some of these recycling facts are shocking when you see the numbers down on paper. Utilising recycling bins whenever you see them, and thinking twice about placing items in the bin will reduce the amount of waste that each person sends to the landfills each year. The amount of energy saved by recycling is astronomical, for example:

  • Half the amount of energy is needed to recycle a plastic bag rather than incinerating it.

Likewise it costs half the amount to run a paper mill that processes recycled material than it would to run one that was making paper from raw materials. The amount of energy that is saved each year by people recycling only a fraction of what they should be is huge. Imagine if everyone did their part and made a real effort?

Recycling is becoming more prevalent, but we still have a long way to go. The recycling facts are this: if we don’t take more care to recycle, we risk running out of resources, polluting our environment and leaving behind a mess for future generations. So, next time you are about to put something in the bin, ask yourself if that’s where it really belongs. 

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