Some Facts About Recycling and Landfilling
Aluminum
· Americans throw out enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
Glass
· The volume of glass recycled in the United States would fill 103,333 tractor trailer trucks. Bumper to bumper, these trucks would stretch from Providence to Key Largo.
Plastics
· Products made from recycling # 1 plastic bottles include: carpets, clothing insulation material, material for “fleece” jackets, scouring pads, auto parts, paint brushes, and tennis ball fuzz.
· Products made from recycling # 2 plastic bottles include: trash cans, pails, flower pots, recycling bins, plastic lumber, traffic cones, golf bag liners, and combs.
Newspapers
· Americans throw out the equivalent of more than 30 million trees in newspaper alone each year. That’s enough trees to completely fill the entire state of Pennsylvania.
Corrugated Cardboard
· Approximately 28.8 million tons of cardboard was used in the United States alone last year. Of that, approximately 10.3 tons were thrown into landfills across the country.
Computers
· As of last year, the number of home computers that have become obsolete exceeded the number of computers manufactured.
· By the year 2004, there will be approximately 70 million computers in landfills across the country.
Yard Waste/Compost
· Yard and food waste make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in the United States.
· Americans throw away approximately 10% of the food they buy at the supermarket. This results in dumping the equivalent of 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfills each year.
Landfills and Garbage
· Sixty percent of the nation’s waste was deposited in landfills in 1994. Landfilling continues to be the primary method of waste disposal in the United States today.
· One acre of landfill space, filled 9 feet deep, is needed for every ten thousand people.
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