• Each person creates about 4.7 pounds of waste every single day.
• In the US 33.4% of solid waste is either recycled or composted, 12.6% is burned in combustion facilities and 54% makes it's way into landfills.
• In 2007 54% of paper and paperboard were recycled, and nearly 35% of metals were recycled.
• The amount of recycling in 2007 saved the energy equivalent of 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline and prevented the release of carbon dioxide of approximately 35 million cars.
• Each ton of mixed paper that is recycled can save the energy equivalent to 185 gallons of gasoline.
• Recycling efforts has greatly improved the disposal of waste to landfills. It has decreased from 89% in 1980 to 54% in 2007.
• Recycling 1 ton of aluminum cans conserves the equivalent of 1,665 gallons of gasoline.

Source: http://recyclingfacts.org

Aluminum Recycling Facts

A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days.

Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours -- or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline. .

An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be there 500 years from now!

We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year.

Paper Recycling Facts

To produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.

Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75,000 trees.

If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!

If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.

Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.

The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail.

Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!

The 17 trees saved (above) can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.

The construction costs of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50 to 80% less than the cost of a mill using new pulp.

Plastic Recycling Facts

Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away!

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

Glass Recycling Facts

Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable!

A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose -- and even longer if it's in the landfill.

Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.

Source: The National Recycling Coalition