15 Facts about Recycling

15 Facts about Recycling The important facts about recycling are immense. What is the use of filling landfills with trash from valuable materials we have used only once? The best thing to do would be take the material for recycling and utilize all the resources and energy previously used in manufacturing the product. Materials collected for recycling had been processed and refined in the past, hence the process of manufacturing again is much cleaner and energy saving than the initial one. Here are some of the facts about recycling: 1. Recycling aluminum cans saves energy There is enough energy saved from recycling an aluminum drink can that is sufficient for running a television for 2hrs, a computer for 3hrs and a bulb (100watts) for 20hrs. You can save 37 barrels of oils by recycling a ton of aluminum. It is possible to power a home for a whole day with the energy saved from recycling 125 aluminum cans. The energy it takes to manufacture one aluminum can from raw bauxite ore can produce 20 aluminum cans from recycling. Aluminum can be recycled limitlessly. 2. Steel Recycling saves enough energy to power a city Energy amounting to 3.6 barrels of oil is saved when one ton of steel is recycled. Manufacturing new steel requires 1.49 tons of iron ore. The total energy saved from recycling steel annually can power a whole city like Los Angeles for a decade. 3. Do not throw used car batteries Recycling battery acid can produce sodium sulfate which can be utilized in the manufacture of textile, glass and washing detergent. 4. Eco-Friendly Coffins When we burry coffins, we pollute the ground with hard wood laminated with toxic materials, tons of steel and copper. Recently, there has been a push for eco-friendly coffins made completely from recycled paper. 5. The Most recycled material in ancient times was bones Prior to the 20th Century bones were the most recycled material. From bones they made button and gelatin that was important for producing glue, paper and utilized in photography and food processing. 6. Paper recycling reduces pollution Recycling paper uses half the amount of water required to make paper from virgin pulp and minimizes air pollution by over 70%. Almost 250lbs of Carbon dioxide can be absorbed from the air by 17 trees on the other hand 15,000lbs of carbon dioxide is released when you burn a ton of paper. 7. Save energy recycle paper Manufacturing recycled paper uses 40% less the amount of energy needed to make paper from trees. The energy saved from recycling a ton of paper is the same as 165 gallons of gasoline or 4100KW hours of electricity that can run a home in the US for 5 months. 8. Recycling paper saves trees When one ton of paper is recycled 17 trees are saved and the land fill space is increased by 3 cubic yards. If 10% of the newsprint bought by everyone in America would be recycled a total of 25 million trees would be saved. The American paper mills consume over 900milliom trees as raw materials. 9. Too much E-waste Annually, the amount of electronic waste produced in the world is over 50 million tons. To get the real picture, you can line up garbage trucks across half the World full of the e-waste. 10. Much of the e-waste lands in China China takes more than 70% of the e-waste for recycling in local workshops. The recycling techniques they use produces toxic materials that are pose both environmental and health risks. 11. Plastics choke up landfills Each day there are over 60 million plastic bottles that wind up in landfills. It takes between 100 to 400 years for plastic to biodegrade. There is enough plastic produced annually in the US to wrap up the state of Texas. 12. Recycling plastic saves energy Manufacturing plastic from raw materials uses over 40% more energy than you would use for recycling plastic. Plastic packaging packing is cheaper to produce than paper bags and saves enough energy to run over a million city homes for a period of 3 years. About 2000 gallons of gas is saved from recycling one ton of plastic. 13. Recycling Food The amount of food waste generated annually is close to 22 million tons. Through waste food composting, we can reduce the carbon footprint equal to removing 2 million cars from the road. 14. Recycling glass over and over Recycling glass reduces the amount of waste in landfills by over 180,000 tons. Glass is one of the most recycled materials with over 80 % recycled into fresh containers. 15. Plastic recycling protects Marine life Over a million sea creatures die annually from swallowing plastic bags. The above facts about recycling could not emphasize its importance enough. We hope you found them invaluable.