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Recycling Facts in America

As Americans, we have been taught since childhood to incorporate the three R's of waste management into our lives -- "reduce," "reuse," "recycle." According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, we reduce by using less resources from the beginning, reuse by returning used items to keep them in use, and recycle by taking advantage of the many recycling options, such as cities' curbside pickup programs.

  1. Plastic Utensils, Cups and Plates

    • Think about the last time you staged or attended a birthday party for a child. The typical household probably does not have enough dinnerware and silverware to accommodate a large party with several different dishes. The equator could be circled 300 times with the amount of plastic utensils, cups and plates thrown out each year.

    Plastic Bags

    • One billion plastic shopping bags are used yearly by Americans. These bags account for about 300,000 tons of landfill waste each year. The amount of these bags that are recycled is under 1 percent, and the monetary cost of recycling such bags remains very high as opposed to the bag value.

    Junk Mail

    • Most American adults have received many pieces of "junk mail" throughout their lives, usually throwing it straight in the trash can without evening opening it. If the junk mail received by Americans in one day would all be recycled, the energy obtained could be used to heat 250,000 homes.

    Styrofoam

    • Styrofoam is not recyclable. The amount of Styrofoam cups throw away each year in America could circle the planet more than 400 times. That is approximately 25 billion cups each year that cannot be recycled.

    Glass

    • Enough glass is thrown out in the United States every two weeks that if every one of those bottles and jars could be stacked, they would equal the height and total area of the former World Trade Center towers.

    Aluminum

    • Aluminum cans dumped into landfills each year could have been recycled, commonly referred to as "scrapped," for cash. The scrap value of these cans is more than $600 million. By recycling just one aluminum can, the energy saved could run a television for three hours. That same can could be back on store shelves within two months and have required 95 percent less energy to make while also cutting 95 percent of the noxious emissions over the manufacturing of a completely new can.

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