Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste

FACTS AND FIGURES

Aluminum

¤ Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new metal from raw materials. Thus, other emissions such as greenhouse gas emissions are also avoided when aluminum is recycled.

¤ Recycling aluminum cans conserves the energy equivalent of 1 gallon of gas.

¤ Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours or a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours.

Plastic

¤ Recycling 1 ton of plastic saves the equivalent of 1,000 - 2,000 gallons of gas.

¤ A one gallon plastic milk container that weighed 120 grams in the 60's now weighs just 65 grams.

¤ Products made from recovered plastic bottles include drainage pipes, toys, carpet, filler for pillows and sleeping bags.

Paper

¤ One ton of recycled paper saves 4100 kw hours of electricity (enough to heat a home for 6 months or run a television for 31 hours)

¤ Enough paper is collected for recycling each year to make a box-car train 7,600 miles long.

¤ One ton of recycled paper uses: 64% less energy, 50% less water, 74% less air pollution and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.

Glass

¤ Recycled glass could be made into household insulation.

¤ Recycling 2 bottles saves enough energy to boil water for 5 cups of tea.

¤ Producing one ton of new glass creates 27.8 lbs of air pollution, while processing recycled glass produces 14 - 20 % less air pollution. In addition, glass can be recycled forever and it never decomposes.

Tin/Steel/Metal

¤ One pound of recycled steel saves 5.450 BTU's of energy or 26 hours of a 60 watt bulb