Recycle Stats and Tips

1. Stat: 700 years - that is how long it takes a plastic bottle in a landfill to began to biodegrade. Fourteen 20 oz plastic bottles yield enough fiber for an extra large T-shirt.

Tip: Close the Recycling Loop! Buy products that are made from recycled/post consumer materials. Check out www.greengiftguide.com to see examples of these products.

2. Stat: The average person generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day- 1.5 tons of solid waste per year. Although the EPA estimates that 75% of solid waste is recyclable, only about 30 % is actually recycled.

Tip: Recycling does make a difference! The most important part of recycling is participation, so read the bottom labels on packaged items to differentiate what is recyclable and what is not.

3. Stat: Nationwide,130 million cell phones go out of use annually. This creates an estimated 65,000 tons of electronic waste.

Tip: Recycle your cell phone by donating to a charity at: w ww.phones4charity.org OR by taking them to a local recycling center http://www.call2recycle.org

4. Stat: Americans throw out enough paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall from New York to Los Angeles. However, each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save: 3.5 cubic yards of landfill, 17 thirty foot (pulp) trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, and 4100 kwh of energy!

Tip: Use paper products made from recycled materials, print on both sides of paper and recycle after use (to find the nearest paper recycling center: www.Earth911.com.

5. Stat: 75% of old electronics sit in storage, because there is uncertainty of how to manage them. Many of these items can be reused, refurbished or recycled.

Tip: Check out eRecycle.org to find locations that manage used electronics.

6. Stat: Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare, about 96 billion pounds of food waste each year. Food waste includes uneaten food and food preparation scraps from residences or households, commercial establishments like restaurants, institutional sources like school cafeterias, and industrial sources like factory lunchrooms. The nati on spends about 1 billion dollars a year to dispose of food waste.

Tip: By separating food waste to use for composting o r putting in the green waste bin, it makes it easier to recycle solid waste.

7. Stat: Americans throw away about 40 million soft drink cans and bottles every year. Placed end to end, they would reach the moon and back nearly 20 TIMES!

Tip: Recycle bottles and cans by placing in the designed bin supplied by your city. If these bins are not supplied, take recyclables to a local grocery store that has a "Replanet" recycling center: http://www.replanetusa.com

8. Stat: 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used per year - or one million per minute.Most don’t make it to a recycling facility.

Tip: At most grocery stores there is a bin to recycle these plastic bags. There are also other great uses for these bags; such as jewelry and crafts this web site has great ideas to turn nonsense plastic bags into instant Fun! http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/08/plastic_bag_crafts.html

9. Stat: The average refrigerator aged 10 years or older contains more than 120 pounds of recyclable steel.

Tip: Recycle your old inefficient refrigerator of freezer by calling Southern California Edison at : 800-234-9722 for a free pickup and $50.00 for the rec ycling process.