Some Interesting General Recycling Information
Some of these facts may be a few years old, so we can't attest to the full accuracy of these statements. These are meant to be thought provoking more than anything else.
Only 1 percent of the world's water supply is usable; 97 percent is in the ocean and 2 percent is frozen.
Every Sunday, Americans waste 90 percent of recyclable newspapers. This wastes 500,000 trees!
One pound of newspaper can be recycled to make 6 cereal boxes, 6 egg cartons or 2,000 sheets of writing paper.
90% of all US households buy greeting cards, with American consumers purchasing approximately 7 billion greeting cards each year. In the UK, a typical year sees over 2 billion cards sold. Between just those two countries, if the purchased cards were aligned end-to-end, they would stretch around the world 54 times.
In Britain, over 9 million "nappies" or disposable diapers, are used every day.
Making recycled paper instead of new paper uses 64 percent less energy and uses 58 percent less water.
Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water!
Paper products make up the largest part (approximately 40 percent) of our trash.
25 two litre pop bottles can be recycled into an adult-size fleece jacket.
5 billion drink boxes are thrown away each year in North America.