McKean County Recycling Program - Recycling Facts

HOW LONG WILL OUR TRASH BE AROUND?

Glass Recycling Facts

 

• Over a ton of resources is saved for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.

   

   

• Producing a ton of glass from 100% raw materials creates 384 pounds of mining waste. Using 50% recycled glass cuts this waste by about 75%.

   

   

• Recycling glass reduces air pollution by 14-20% and saves 25-32% more energy than making glass from virgin raw materials.

   

   

• Recycling one glass bottle saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

   

   

• Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

   

   

• Glass containers were recycled at a rate of 38% in 1996.

Steel Recycling Facts

•  More than 600 steel cans are recycled every second in the U.S. Enough steel was recoverded from cans in 1997 (1.7 million tons) to build Eiffel Towers!

 

• Appliance Recycling in 1997 yielded more than 2.3 million tons of steel - enough to build 88 new professional baseball stadiums.

   

   

• The 13 million cars recycled in 1997 would circle the earth more than one and three-quarter times.

   

   

• Steel recycling is good business! The Auto scrap recycling business has over $3.7 billion in sales annually, and employs 40,000 people at more than 7,000 businesses in the U.S.

   

   

• Recycled steel is used to make new steel products including packaging, cars, lawnmowers, appliances, and construction materials. All new steel products contain at least some recycled steel.

   

   

• In 1997, Americans recycled 61% of their steel cans, 81% of their steel appliances, and over 97% of their automotive scrap metal.

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  Making new steel products from recycled steel instead of virgin ore reduces water use by 40%, water pollution by 76%, air pollution by 86%, and mining wastes by 97%.

   

   

• Steel recycling saves energy:

   

   

• It takes four times more energy to make steel from virgin ore than from recycled steel.

   

   

• Enough energy is saved each year by recycling steel to supply the city of Los Angeles with almost a decade worth of electricity.

   

   

• For every ton of steel recycled, 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1000 pounds of coal and 40 pounds of limestone are preserved.

   

   

• The average American throws out about 61 lbs. of steel or bi-metal cans every month.

Tire Recycling Facts

 

• Pennsylvanians throw away more than 12 million scrap tires each year.

   

   

• There are about 20 million scrap tires in large  stockpiles scattered throughout Pennsylvania.

   

   

• In 1996, 202 million scrap tires were recovered for reuse or recycling. About 152 million of these were used to make tire-derived fuel.

   

   

• Recycling and reuse of scrap tires has grown from about 11 % in 1990 to over 70 percent today.

   

   

• 200,000 tons of crumb rubber were recovered from waste tires in 1996.

   

   

• Scrap tire rubber can be used for a number of applications including:

   

   

• Road paving. Including rubber in paving material can improve the life of the pavement, minimize ice accumulation, reduce hydroplaning, and reduce road noise.

   

   

• Recycled rubber can be used at levels as high as 50 % in manufacturing new tires.

   

   

• To manufacture athletic surfaces, play areas, landfill liners, and sheet rubber for manufacturing products.

   

   

• As a source of rubber for manufacturing molded rubber products.

   

   

• As fuel for various manufacturing processes. Tire derived fuel (TDF) is cheaper than oil, and has an equivalent heating value. TDF also has a lower sulfur and nitrogen content than oil, so air emissions are often better.

   

Why Recycle Tires?

Steps You Can Take to Reduce Tire Waste

                              3.  Perform regular tire maintenance. Proper inflation and regular rotation
                                         as recommended by the manufacturer extends tire life.

Paper Recycling Facts

•  Paper and paperboard account for more than 60% of all materials diverted from the municipal solid waste stream for recycling and composting.

Americans now recover 40% of all paper used.Everyday, U.S. paper makers recycle enough paper to fill a 15 mile long train of boxcars.At the turn of the century, recovered paper is expected to supply 40% of all fiber used to make paper and paperboard products.U.S. paper recovery last year saved more than 90 million cubic yards of landfill space. Recycling corrugated cardboard cuts the emissions of sulfur dioxide in half and uses about 25% less energy than making cardboard from virgin pulp. Every Sunday, nearly 90% of the recyclable newspapers in the U.S. are thrown away. That's equivalent to dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week. American's throw away enough office & writing paper annually to build a wall 12-ft. high stretching from Los Angeles to New York City.If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the equivalent of about 25 million trees a year.If all morning newspapers read in this the country were recycled, 41,000 trees would be saved daily and 6 million tons of waste would never end up in landfills.Producing one ton of recycled paper uses 64% less energy, and 58% less water than to producing one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp. Producing one ton of recycled paper creates 74% less air pollution, 35% water pollution; and saves 17 trees compared to producing one ton of paper products from virgin wood .

 

• Tires are a disposal problem because they won't stay buried in landfills. Whole tires trap air and/or methane gas, causing tires to "float" to the surface.

   

   

• Scrap tires that aren't recycled often end up in tire "dumps". These dumps pose a number of health and environmental threats including:

   

 

• Water sprayed on burning tires cools them down, producing an oily run-off that can contaminate surface and groundwater.

   

   

• Heat from tire fires causes some of the rubber to break down into an oily material, increasing the likelihood of surface and groundwater pollution.