Sunday, February 8, 2009

Reasons to Reuse

Why recycle? I ask myself this question every week when I need to drop off the recycling. It can be a pain to load up the car and head the 4 miles it takes to get to the drop off center. Yep, I realize how silly it sounds. So, when I read these stats, I realize that I should not pout but see the good I am doing, the difference I am making. Even a small bit does the WORLD some good. Read on!

Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. Source- Trash to Cash
Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months.
Source-Environmental Defense Fund
About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28%.
Source-Environmental Protection Agency
Over ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County. Source-Eco-Cycle
Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling. Source -Colorado Recycles
Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, and air pollution by 20%. Source-Environmental Defense Fund
Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. Source-Eco-Cycle
If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees--or about 26 million trees per year. Source-California Department of Conservation
The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year - or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. Source-Steel Recycling Institute
If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. Source- Seventh Generation Co.
The U.S. is 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of its natural resources. Source-Environmental Protection Agency
Source for all- Eco-cycle

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