Facts on waste...

Here are some facts on waste and recycling-

see the bottom for source (and additional resources).

Remember to recycle reduce and resuse!

"In one hour, a single container ship entering port generates the air pollution of 350,000 cars"
One busload of passengers takes 40 cars off the road during rush hour, saves 70,000 litres of fuel and avoids over 175 tonnes of emissions a year.
Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 400 kg a year.
Paper

• Manufacturing recycled paper produces 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution, as well as using 58% less water and 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp.

• One edition of the Sunday New York Times consumes about 75,000 trees.

• 1 tonne of recycled paper saves 3700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water.

• making one tonne of recycled paper uses only about 60% of the energy needed to make a tonne of virgin paper.
Energy

• recycling aluminum (the highest theoretical potential for saving energy) saves 95%• recycling glass -- energy savings of 33%• recycling paper -- energy savings of 64%

• energy savings per tonne of finished plastic bottles is enough to fill a 20-gallon gas tank every week for ten years.

• recycling a glass jar saves enough energy to light a bulb for four hours.

• by recycling one tonne of paper you save:

-17 trees

-6953 gallons of water

-463 gallons of oil

-583 pounds of air pollution

• It takes 95% less energy to produce new aluminum from discarded aluminum pop cans than from raw materials.

• Recycling one aluminum can saves the amount of energy to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours or run a TV for 3 hours.
Glass

• Ontario residents recycled over 304 million glass bottles and jars in 1992 through blue box and recycling depot programs. Laid end to end, these containers would circle the Earth twice from pole to pole.
Plastics/Aluminum

• Canadians take home over 55 million plastic shopping bags every WEEK
Organics

• Canadians produce approximately 7 million tonnes of organic waste each year.

• 2/3 of our household waste can be composted.
Miscellaneous

• 5 billion drink boxes are thrown away each year in North America.

• North America has 8% of the world's population, consumes 1/3 of the world's resources and produces almost half of the world's non-organic garbage.

• 70% of landfilled waste could be either reused or recycled.

• One litre of oil can contaminate a million litres of ground water.

• In North America, approximately 20% of our paper, plastic, glass and metal goods are currently made from recycled material. Experts believe that 50% could be easily achieved.
Packaging

• Approximately 35% of municipal solid waste is packaging

• $1 out of every $10 spent on food goes into packaging.

Source: http://www.wrwcanada.com/download_facts.htm