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PAPER
Old corrugated and old newspapers recorded the fastest growth during 1999 of the five
major grades.Old corrugated increased 5.5% in 1999 and accounted for almost 75% of
overall tonnage gain in recovered paper consumption by U.S. mills.
Did you know...
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The average grocery bag full of newspaper weighs 17 pounds |
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We use more than 50,000,000 tons of paper each year |
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Recycling one ton of paper saves one acre of trees |
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Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall 12 feet high, stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. 34.2% of all garbage is paper. |
ALUMINUM
In 1998, 62.8% of the 102 billion aluminum cans produced were recycled: a total of 64
billion cans. Last Year 9.1 billion pounds of aluminum were recycled. Of that amount,
almost 2 billion pounds came from used beverage cans. Aluminum beverage cans make
up 99% of soft drinks packaged in metal cans. Every aluminum beverage can has an
average of 51.4% recycled content.
Did you know...
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It takes 95% less energy to make new aluminum cans from recycled cans then from raw materials |
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We discard enough aluminum to rebuild our commercial airline fleet every three months |
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Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours |
GLASS
About 35% of all glass bottles and jars sold in the United States were recycled in 1998.
41% of all glass bottles and jars manufactured in the U.S. are currently recycled.
Did you know...
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Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times |
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Up to 30% less energy is used to make glass from recycled materials than from new cullet |
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We throw away enough glass jars and bottles to fill the 1,350 foot twin towers of New York's World Trade Center every two weeks |
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The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt bulb for four hours |
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Because it takes glass so long to decompose, the bottle tossed on the side of the road today may still be littering the landscape in the year 3000 |
PLASTIC
The number of companies handling and reclaiming post-consumer plastics is nearly six
times greater than it was in 1996.
HDPE is the most common resin type accepted at post-consumer processing facilities.
Nearly 1.4 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles were recycled in 1997, a 4%
increase from 1.32 billion in 1996.
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