The Benefits of Recycling

1. The Benefits of Recycling By SPC. Prater, Nyan (U.S. Army)

2. Purpose of Presentation • To encourage you to recycle or keep recycling. • To be aware of the different kinds of recycling. • To help other to recycle.

3. Expected Learning Outcomes • To gain a greater awareness of the facts about… • Glass Recycling. • Plastic Recycling. • Aluminum Recycling. • Paper Recycling. • Electronic Recycling. • Recycling in General.

4. Outline • Glass Recycling • Plastic Recycling • Aluminum Recycling • Paper Recycling • Electronic Recycling • Recycling Facts • Un-Recycled Items • Summary

5. Glass Recycling • According to the EPA, 34.5 percent of glass beer and soft drink bottles and 28.1 percent of all glass containers were recycled in 2007. • 100% recyclable. Photo from: http://www.shopaservice.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/glassrecycle.jpg

6. Plastic Recycling • More than 2.3 billion pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in 2007. • 80% of Americans can easily recycle plastics. Photo from: http://blog.ecolect.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/recycleplastic.jpg

7. Aluminum Recycling • 50% of all aluminum cans are recycled. • 20 recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce one can using virgin ore. Photo from: http://ledzep.biz/nmr/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cans.jpg

8. Paper Recycling • 360 pounds was recycled for every person in the United States. • Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. Photo from: http://www.thegogreenblog.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newspaper-recycling.jpg

9. Electronic Recycling • Americans own about 24 electronic products per household. • Electronic recycling programs vary from area to area. Photo from: http://www.co.berks.pa.us/westreading/lib/westreading/images/electronic_recycling.gif

10. Recycling Facts • Recycling one ton (about 2,000 pounds) of paper saves 17 trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for six months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of pollution. • The 17 trees saved by recycling one ton of paper can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air each year. • If all of our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year! If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees each year.

11. Recycling Facts • About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%. • Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper (think: Empire State Building), but all of these jars are recyclable! • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures a year! Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's twice the size of Texas and is floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. It's also 80 percent plastic, and weighs in at 3.5 million tons.

12. Recycling Facts • More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. Believe it not, ALL that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it so most it goes in the trash! • Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In spite of this, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months!

13. Recycling Facts • The average American uses 650 pounds of paper each year – 100 million tons of wood could be saved each year if all that paper was recycled. • Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. • A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers that can all be recycled!

14. Un-recycled Items • Fill up landfills. • Hazardous to animals. • Pollute the environment. • Waste of resources. Photo from: http://www.ctrecyclingguide.com/images/lo-landfill.jpg

15. Summary • It is easy to recycle: • Glass • Plastic • Aluminum • Paper • Electronics • Recycling helps: • The environment. • Conserve resources. • Prevent pollution. • Protect animals. Photo from: http://www.strongmail.com/resources/blogs/product_talk/easy.jpg

16. For Further Reading • Wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling • Earth911.com/recycling • Epa.gov/recyclecity • Obviously.com/recycle

17. Who wants to recycle? Photo from: http://studentweb.cgc.maricopa.edu/a/ar/aarmendariz31/hands_raised.jpg

18. Questions? Photo from: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2328/2062017939_b0c7424da8_o.jpg

19. References • EPA: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm • Kimberly-Clark’s 2005 Sustainability Report: http://www.kimberly-clark.com/pdfs/2005SustainabilityReport.pdf • USA TODAY: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002/02/25/computer-waste.htm • SVTC: http://www.svtc.org • Friends of Earth: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/paper_recycling.html • Waste to Wealth: http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/wrrs/fivemyths.html • Springer Link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/r461lju585760316/