Wa st e F ac t sand F i g u re sfro m h ttp ://w w w .c l e a nai r.orsl W aste/w asteFacts.html
Waste Production
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I n t he U. S . ,4 .3 9 p o u n d so f tra s h p e r d a y a nd up to 56 tonsof trashper year are createdby the averageper son.
Only about one-tenthof all solidgarbagein the UnitedStatesgets recycled.
Everyyear we fill enoughgarbagetrucksto form a line that wouldstretchfrom the earth, halfwayto the moon.
Eachday the UnitedStatesthrowsaway enoughtrash to fill 63,000garbagetrucks.
Almost 1/3 of the wastegeneratedthe U.S.is packaging.
e apers($2,000w orth) beforebei ngpot t y t r ained.
Diaper s :A n a v e ra g ec h i l dw i l l u s e b e tw e e n8,000-10,000di sposabldi
d i s p o seof about 18 bi l l i onof thesei tems.In the U ni tedS tatesal onetheseslngle- use
E ac hy ear , p a re n tsa n d b a b y s i tte rs
it em sc ons u men e a rl y1 0 0 ,0 0 0to n so f p l a sti cand 800,000tons of tree pul p.W e w i l l pay an averageof $3 50 m illion
annuallyto deal with their disposaland, to top it off, thesediaperswill still be in the landfill300 yearsfrom now. Americans
t hr ow away 5 7 0 d i a p e rsp e r s e c o n dT. h a t' s49 mi l l i ondi apersper day.
Americansthrow away 2.5 millionplasticbottlesevery hour.
Everyyear, Anrericansmake enoughplasticfilm to shrink-wrapthe state of Texas.
The amount of glassbottlesAmericansthrow away every two weekswouldhavefilled both WorldTradeCentertowers.
ai rfl eet everythree ntonths,and enoughir on and
A m er ic anst h ro w a w a ye n o u g ha l u mi n u mc a nsto rebui l dour conl merci al
everyday.
s t eelt o s up p l ya l l o u r n a ti o n ' sa u to m a k e rs
T hr owingaw a y o n e a l u m i n u mc a n w a s te sa s muchenergyas i f that can w ere I/2ful l of gasol i ne.
I n t he U. S .,a n a d d i ti o n a5l mi l l i o nto n s o f w astei s generatedduri ngthe hol i days.Fourmi l l i ontons of thi s is wr apping
paperand s h o p p i n gb a g s .
A m er ic ansre c e i v ea l mo s t4 m i l l i o nto n s o f junk mai l everyyear. Mostof i t w i ndsup i n l andfi l l s,
The averageAmericanuses650 poundsof papera year.
Eachyear, Americanstrash enoughofficepaperto build a 12-footwall from LosAngelesto New York City.
Anrericanstoss out enoughpaper& plasticcups,forks and spoonsevery year to circlethe equator300 times.
cupsevery year.
The averageAmericanofficeworkergoesthrougharound500 disposable
Nearly44 millionAmericanworkerspurchaseor eat lunchout every weekday.
a year - about750,000copiesevery minute of every day.
Americansmake nearly400 billionphotocopies
U. S .f ax nr a c h i n es e n t 3 0 b i l l i o nfa x e si n 1 990.
U. S .bus ine s s enso w u s ea b o u t2 1 mi l l i o nto ns of papereveryyear.That' sabout 175 poundsof paperfor eachAm er ican.
E nor r ohhaz a rd o u w
s a s tei s g e n e ra te di n o n e yearto fi l l the N ewOrl eansS uperdome1,500ti mesover.
NewY or k C i tya l o n eth ro w so u t e n o u g hg a rbageeachday to fi l l the E mpi reS tateB ui l di ng.
I n one day , A m e ri c a n g
s e t ri d o f 2 0 ,0 0 0c a rsand 4,000trucksand buses.
A s of L992, 1 4 b i l l i o np o u n d so f tra s hw e redumpedi nto oceanannual l yaroundthe w orl d.
Forty-threethousandtons of food is thrown out in the UnitedStaleseachday.
A m er ic anst h ro w o u t a b o u t2 7 0 mi l l i o nti re severyyear.
S ix t y - f iv ebi l l i o na l u mi n u ms o d ac a n sa re u sedeachyear.
L a n df ills
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Only two manmadestructureson Earthare largeenoughto be seenfrom outer space:the GreatWallof Chinaand the
F r es hK illsia n d fi l l !
Barges(whichrun 24 hoursa day) deliverover 14,000tons of NewYorkCity trash to FreshKillsevery day. (Notes:The
FreshKillsLandfillsis closingsoonand is only being kept opento receivedebrisfrom the 2001 attack on the WorldTrade
CenterTowers).
I n 1979,t he rew e re a n e s ti ma te d1 8 ,5 0 0l andfi l l si n the nati on.In 1990therew ereonl y about6,300,and by 1995 it was
Dur ingt hat
es t im at edt h a t o n l y a b o u t3 ,0 0 0w o u l ds ti l l be open.In j ust 16 yearsthe numberof l andfi l l sdroppedby B 4 o/ o.
increasein the amountof trashgenerated.
same time there was an B0o/o
S ev ent yper c e n to f U .S .mu n i c i p asl o l i dw a stegets buri edi n l andfi l l s.
U. S .landf il l sa re c l o s i n ga l th e ra te o f 1 p e r day.
Incinerators
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7O8,234tons of wasteper day is incinerated.
Wasteand NaturalResourceUse
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Everyyear, nearly900,000,000trees are cut down to provideraw materialsfor Americanpaper
and pulp mills.
EachAmericanexertsthree times as much pressureon the naturalenvironmentas the global
average.
The averageAmerican,in one lifetime,uses: 1B tons of paper,23 tons of wood, 16 tons
of metal,and 32 tons of organic
c hem ic als .
Americais home to 5oloof the world'spopulation,yet it consumes1/3 of the Earth'stimber
and paper; making paperthe
largest part of the waste stream at 37.5o/oof the total waste stream.
Every4 quartsof oil discardedduringan averageoil changecan contaminate1 milliongallons
of water.
Peoplewho changetheir own oil improperlydump the equivalentof 16 ExxonValdez
spillsinto the nation,ssewersano
landfillsevery year.
RecyclingWorks!
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1,500 aluminumcans are recycledevery secondin the U.S.
Recyclingan aluminumsodacan saves960loof the energyusedto make a can
from ore, and produces95o/olessair
pollutionand 97o/olesswater pollution.
It takes the energyequivalentof half a sodacan of gasolineto produceone soda
can from bauxiteore.
In 1986. 4g'7o/oof all aluminumcanswere beingrecycled.In 1990, that percentage
increasedto 63.60loand, in 1996,
63.5o/owere being recycled.
T he am oun to f p a p e rre c y c l e da n n u a l l yb y th e averageA meri cani n 1g9s w as 301,8
l bs.,i ncreasi ng
i n 199 6t o 329 lbs.
Recyclingone ton of cardboardsavesover 9 cubicyardsof landfillspace.
one ton of paperfrom recycledpulp saves17 trees,3 cubicyardsof landfillspace
,7,aoo gallonsof water, 4,200 kilowatt
hour s( enou g hto h e a ty o u r h o mefo r h a l f y ear),390 gal l onsof oi l , and prevents pounds
60
of ai r pol l utan t s.
Producingrecycledwhite papercreates74o/olessair pollutants,35o/olesswater pollutants,
and 75ololessprocessenergy
than producingpaperfrom virgin fibers.
sixty percentof the world's lead supply comesfrom recycledbatteries.
It takes 90o/olessenergyto recyclean aluminumcan than to make a new one.