Recycling For Charity...Snapshot

Mission

Environment

Make a Difference

Charities

Constituents

Recycling

Waste

Waste generated by Individuals:
It is estimated that on average, each person generates:

0.041 metric tons of newspaper
0.043 tons of glass
0.014 metric tons of plastic
0.012 metric tons of metal
0.009 metric tons of magazines per year. (paper?)
0.096 metric tons of organic per year
0.11 metric tons of food waste per year.
consume 60,225 gallons per year: 165 gallons a day (water used either at work or home).

Organic Waste (food)

34 Million Tons of Food Waste is generated each year. Less than 3% of it recovered (as of 2009), most of it reaching landfills and incinerators.

"America uses 345 Billion Gallons of Water a day.

39% is used for irrigation
39% is used for electric power
6% is used for industrial purpose.
14% is used for public supply
2% is used for agricultural purposes."

EPA's annual Characterization Report was the source of per capita waste generation by material type (e.g., newspaper waste generated per person). Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2005. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2003 (PDF)

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Recycling For Charities

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Recycling saves 95 percent of the energy required to make aluminum from ore.

If the recycling rate were to reach 80% at the current level of beverage container sales, nearly 3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions would be avoided. This is equivalent to taking nearly 2.4 million cars off the road for a full year.

U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Scorecard and Report

In 1972, 53 million pounds of aluminum were recycled. Today, we exceed that amount weekly.