Recycling Facts

National Recycling Facts

The EPA estimates that while 75% of what Americans trash every week could be recycled, only 25% is recycled.
Today, this country recycles 28% of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
Twenty years ago, only 1 curbside recycling program existed in the United States, which collected several materials at the curb. By 1998, 9,000 curbside programs and 12,000 recyclable drop-off centers had sprouted up across the nation.
Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.
Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or about 580 pounds per person.
Paper products make up the largest part (approximately 40%) of our trash.
Making recycled paper instead of new paper uses 64% less energy and uses 58% less water.
Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.

Visit the California Recycling website to find a recycling center.
Recycling 1 ton of PET (clear plastic) bottles saves 7.4 cubic yards of space in landfill.
Recycling 14 20-ounce PET bottles can make 1 extra large t-shirt.
You can watch 2.5 hours of television with the energy saved from recycling 1 aluminum can.
It takes 90 days for recycled aluminum to make it back on the shelf as something useful.
80-100 Years: The lifespan of an aluminum can that gets tossed into a landfill instead of a recycling bin.
700 Years: Toss a plastic bottle in the trash and that's about how long it will sit in a landfill without degrading.
1 Million Years: Put a glass bottle in a landfill and that's how long it will take to degrade. Recycle it and it can live forever.