Most cereal boxes, aluminum and steel cans and glass bottles have some recycled content. Anything made from steel in the US has a minimum 25% recycled content. Nine jobs are created for every 15,000 tons recycled, according to an estimate by the Washington-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Every hour, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles. Making paper from recycled material uses 30 to 55 percent less energy than making paper from trees and reduces the air pollution involved in the paper-making process by 95 percent. Each Sunday, 500,000 trees are made into newspapers that aren’t recycled. Every three months, we throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. Making aluminum from recycled material uses 90 to 95 percent less energy than making aluminum from bauxite ore. Recycling a glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. If Americans recycle their phone books for a year, an estimated 650,000 tons of paper could be saved. If you’re an average American, it’s going to take 465 trees to provide you with a lifetime of paper. Americans throw away the equivalent of more than 30 million trees in newsprint each year. Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year. That’s enough to build a 12 foot- high wall of paper from New York to California. Recycling one stack of newspapers about 6 feet tall saves the life of one tree 35 feet tall. Recycling approximately 1 ton saves 17 trees. The junk mail Americans receive every day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes for 1 day. Recycling office waste paper saves valuable landfill space. Recycling fosters good will among employees and community. Recycling half the world’s paper would free 20 million acres of forest land. Every two weeks, we throw away enough glass to fill the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Throwing away an aluminum beverage container wastes as much energy as pouring out the same sized can half-filled with gasoline. Failing to recycle a daily edition of the Washington Post or London Times wastes just as much energy.
