STATS & FACTS
Facts and Figures are current as of the latest
(2012) EPA Municipal Solid Waste Report
Recycling in General
Overall, Americans recovered 34.5% of waste
generated in 2012. That means we recovered 65
million tons of material, but discarded 2.9 pounds
of garbage per person per day.
Aluminum
In the United States, over 100,000 aluminum cans
are recycled each minute. That amounts to 53 billion
cans recycled in 2010. However, over $1 billion in
aluminum cans were wasted in 2010.
(U.S. EPA MSW Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf)
(Can Manufacturers Institute, http://www.cancentral.com/funfacts.cfm)
The amount of recyclable material recovered In
2012 is like reducing carbon dioxide emissions by
168 million metric tons. That’s like removing over
33 million passenger vehicles from the road.
(U.S. EPA MSW Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf)
Trash
In 2012, we filled United States landfills with 164.27
million tons of waste. That is equivalent to the
weight of 82 million cars.
(U.S. EPA MSW Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2012-fs.pdf and KAB
calculations)
Since 1990, the total amount of MSW going to
landfills
dropped by over 11 million tons, from 145.3 million
to
135.0 million tons in 2012.
(U.S. EPA MSW Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf and KAB
calculations)
The aluminum cans recycled in 2010, stacked one on
top of the other, would be more than 123 million
times taller than Disney’s Space Mountain.
(Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute, Institute of Scrap
Recycling Industries, Inc.,
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/magickingdom/attractions/space-mountain/ and KAB calculations)
Used aluminum cans are recycled and back on the
shelf as new cans in as few as 60 days.
(Can Manufacturers Institute, http://www.cancentral.com/funfacts.cfm)
The amount of energy saved just from recycling cans
in 2010 is equal to the energy equivalent of 17
million barrels of crude oil, or nearly two days of all
U.S. oil imports.
(Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute and Institute of Scrap
Recycling Industries press release)
Plastics
Every pound of recycled PET used in place of virgin
material reduces energy use in plastic production by
84% and greenhouse gas emissions by 71%
(National Association for PET Container Resources Life Cycle Inventory Report
2010, http://www.napcor.com/PET/sustainability.html)
Glass
Americans wasted around 11 million pounds of
sand with the glass bottles discarded in 2009. That
amount could fill every room in the White House
with sand 12 feet deep!
(U.S. EPA 2009 Municipal Solid Waste Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf and KAB
calculations)
A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a
store shelf in as few as 30 days.
(Glass Packaging Institute,
http://www.gpi.org/glassresources/education/sustainabilityrecycling/section26-recycling-glass-con.html)
Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to
light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours, power a
computer for 30 minutes, or a TV for 20 minutes.
(Glass Packaging Institute, http://www.gpi.org/recycle-glass/environment/)
Steel
With a 66.2% recycling rate, steel containers are
one of the most recycled materials in the United
States. Every minute, approximately 20,000 steel
cans are recycled in the United States
(U.S. EPA, http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf
and Can Manufacturers Institute, http://www.cancentral.com/recycling.cfm)
Recycling steel and tin cans saves between 60 and
74 percent of the energy used to produce them
from raw materials.
(U.S. EPA,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/partnerships/wastewise/wrr/factoid.htm)
Paper
Nearly 40% of the paper collected for recycling in the
U.S. was exported to China and other nations.
(America Forest & Paper Association,
http://paperrecycles.org/stat_pages/recovered_goes.html)
Recycled paper production creates 74 percent less
air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution than
virgin paper production.
(American Forest & Paper Association, http://www.afandpa.org/FunFacts.aspx
Steel
In 2009, Americans threw away 10.39 million tons of
steel. That amounts to more than $3 billion in
wasted material, or enough to buy lunch for
everyone in the United States!
(U.S. EPA MSW Report,
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf and KAB
calculations)
Recycling one ton of steel conserves 2500 pounds of
iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of
limestone.
(Steel Recycling Institute, http://www.recyclesteel.org/Recycling%20Resources/Buy%20Recycled.aspx)