While this week’s tip is nothing new, we thought it might be helpful to share some tangible environmental benefits about recycling to encourage our readers to stay the course and keep recycling.
You probably are already aware that recycling reduces waste, conserves natural resources, reduces air and water pollution, and saves energy. But you might STILL be questioning if it REALLY makes a difference? The answer is yes.
The average American produces 4.9 pounds of trash per day. In 2018, that resulted in 292.4 million tons of trash produced for the year, but about 1/3 of the municipal solid waste was kept out of landfills because of recycling and composting. Yes, that still sent a lot of waste to landfills, but we are focusing on the fact that it kept a lot out.
But not only did it keep municipal solid waste out of landfills-- it resulted in saving energy. How much energy is saved by recycling all depends on the material. See the table below for specifics. (All data is sourced from lbre.stanford.edu)
Material
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Energy Saved
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Aluminum
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One ton of recycled aluminum saves 14,000 kilowatt hours (Kwh) of energy, 40 barrels of oil, 32 million BTU's of energy, and 10 cubic yards of landfill space
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Newsprint
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One ton of recycled newsprint saves 601 Kwh of energy, 1.7 barrels of oil (71 gallons), 10.2 million BTU's of energy, 60 pounds of air pollutants from being released, 7,000 gallons of water, and 4.6 cubic yards of landfill space.
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Office Paper
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One ton of recycled office paper saves 4,100 Kwh of energy, 9 barrels of oil, 54 million BTU's of energy, 60 pounds of air pollutants from being released, 7,000 gallons of water, and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
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Plastic
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One ton of recycled plastic saves 5,774 Kwh of energy, 16.3 barrels of oil, 98 million BTU's of energy, and 30 cubic yards of landfill space.
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Steel
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One ton of recycled steel saves 642 Kwh of energy, 1.8 barrels of oil, 10.9 million BTU's of energy, and 4 cubic yards of landfill space.
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Glass
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One ton of recycled glass saves 42 Kwh of energy, 0.12 barrels of oil (5 gallons), 714,000 BTU's of energy, 7.5 pounds of air pollutants from being released, and 2 cubic yards of landfill space.
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In addition to all of that, there are even more ways recycling helps the environment:
- Reduces greenhouse gas emissions from incinerators
- Reduces methane emissions from landfills
- Increases storage of carbon in trees (leaving more trees in forests means they are left to absorb CO2)
So stay the course and keep recycling! And if you need a little guidance about what you can recycle, check out Jennie Romer’s book Can I Recycle This?: A Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single Use Plastics.
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