Sustainable development blog : ecology and humanitarian aid

From aluminum soda cans and glass jars to old newspapers and rolled-up magazines, the most commonly recycled materials are household products and everyday items no longer of any use. Recycling not only transforms waste into valuable resources, but also benefits the environment on both a local and global level. The effort saves energy, prevents pollution, decreases greenhouse gases and conserves natural resources.

1. Aluminum Cans

In the United States, used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item, but other types of aluminum are just as worthy. Siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames and lawn furniture are often overlooked recyclable items. Recycling one aluminum can saves the equivalent of a ½ gallon of gasoline or enough energy to watch television for 3 hours. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV forthree hours! 350,000 aluminum cans are produced every minute! More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product. Once an aluminum can is recycled, it can be part of a new can within six weeks. During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are made. There is no limit to the amount of times aluminum cans can be recycled. We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum pop cans every year. At one time, aluminum was more valuable than gold !

2. Paper

According to the EPA, recycle 1 ton of paper and save 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 17 full-grown trees. Overall, recycling paper instead of using new materials produces 74 percent less air pollution and uses 50 percent less water. During World War II when raw materials were scarce, 33% of all paper was recycled. After the war, this number decreased sharply. Americans use 85,000,000 tons of paper a year: about 680 pounds per person. In 1993, U.S. paper recovery saved more than 90,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space. In 1993, nearly 36,000,000 tons of paper in the U.S.-twice as much in 1980. 27% of the newspapers produced in America are recycled.

3. Newspapers

Recycling a single run of the Sunday newspaper in a major metropolitan city saves an average of 75,000 trees. If every city in the United States recycled newspapers, the country saves about 250,000,000 trees on a yearly basis.

4. Glass Bottles

Americans toss out enough glass bottles and jars each month to fill up a towering skyscraper. Recycling one glass bottle not only saves the same amount of energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours, but also creates 20 percent less air pollution and 50 percent less water pollution compared to producing a new bottle comprised of raw materials.

5. Trash

The United States generates the most trash in the world with an estimated 1,609 pounds per person every year. Each American is responsible for throwing out around 1,200 pounds of compostable organic garbage on a yearly basis.

6. Packaging

For every $10 spent on purchased goods, packaging makes up 10 percent (or $1). Representing around 65 percent of household trash, packaging racks up heavy disposal costs. For every ton of trash, it costs $30 to recycle, $50 to transport it to a landfill and around $70 to incinerate.

7. Hershey's Kisses

The amount of aluminum foil (all of which is completely recyclable) used to wrap the estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses produced each day is enough to blanket more than 50 acres of space--the equivalent of nearly 40 football fields.

8. Motor Oil

Despite getting dirty, motor oil never loses its purpose or wears out. Americans can reduce their dependence on imported oil by reusing old motor oil after it undergoes a recycling and re-refining process.

9. Typical Families

The average American family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk and 26 gallons of bottled water per year. All of these items are recyclable.

10. Styrofoam Cups

A common misconception of Polystyrene (#6) Styrofoam cups is that it is recyclable. Every year, Americans toss out 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups--enough to circle the Earth a total of 436 times.