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This isn’t one of those articles telling you about the very sad outcomes of climate change - we know that you’re conscious of it, and there’s no need to make us all even more worried and sad about what’s to come if we do not act now. Instead, this article dedicated to recycling facts will tell you some truly interesting bits of information that will make you feel good about your efforts and stress the benefits of putting your paper, plastic, and glass in separate containers (however tedious it might sometimes seem). So, ready to check out our selection of facts about recycling? 

But, before you do, hang on a minute - we still need to talk a bit about what to expect from this list. We’d like to stress the notion of this being a list of fun facts about recycling and that there’s no need to drink a cup of calming herbal tea before you read them. In fact, we even made sure to include recycling facts for kids in our roster, so you can educate the little ones on the subject, too. And lastly, these interesting facts about recycling come with cool comparisons, so it is easier to visualize the real impact of your good habit or how it will look when we all finally start separating our trash to be sent to recycling facilities. Disclaimer - it will be a deed of epic proportions!

Okay, it seems that this introduction has done its job, so let’s skip straight to our cool facts about recycling, shall we? By now, you probably know where to find them - that’s right, just a smidgen down below! Once you check them out, give the most interesting facts you vote for so they find their way to the top of this list. And lastly, share this article with your environmentally conscious friends!

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#1

Glass can be recycled endlessly without losing its quality or purity and is entirely recyclable.

feve.org Report

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#2

Since 2016, Germany has had the highest recycling rate in the world, with 56.1% of all waste it produced last year being recycled.

weforum.org Report

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#3

Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled.

unep.org Report

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#4

Wasted plastic that is produced every year could circle the globe four times.

bbc.com Report

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#5

Aluminum can be recycled indefinitely without losing any quality.

nationalgeographic.com Report

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#6

One of the most frequent sources of water pollution is used cooking oil.

sciencedirect.com Report

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mailboxjudit avatar
Lousha
Lousha
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Again, if we want change, make it easy. In most places if you want to be responsible and not mix your used oil with water, you have to collect it, store it until you have enough to justify a trip, then somehow figure our where in your vicinity you can get rid of it, take it to that site and ask them to take it. Compared to that, you can just easily dump it into the sink or toilet, and it's out of sight, out of mind. Which one will most people choose? But if you could just pour it back into the original packaging after it's used up and let's say leave it next to bin on collection day, and it was collected separately and then safely dealt with, I bet more people would do it. As long as it's a hassle, most people will not bother and they'll justify it by "it's just a small amount, others do much more harm!"

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#7

Between 30-40% of all food produced in the U.S. is wasted.

usda.gov Report

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Lousha
Lousha
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's worth mentioning that the majority of that is not wasted in the households (they could surely do much better too of course), but at the points of sale, e.g. in shops. Tons of food, especially fresh produce goes into the bin when it's not "perfect" anymore. Obnoxious sell by dates are also to be blamed. Once food is past that, shops can't legally sell it, even if it's obvious that it's still edible. So they dump it.

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#8

Plastic bags might take up to a 1000 years to decompose.

wwf.org.au Report

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Lene
Lene
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But you know what? You can use them for decades if you take a tiny bit care of them. I have plastic bags that I have used soooooo many times the last 30-ish years. I have never ever tossed a plastic bag that was still good to use. And I try to not use them for sticky/messy stuff unless I really have to. Also, the last thing a plastic bag is used for in my household is as trash bag for plastics we sort from the trash.

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#9

Recycling just one ton of plastic bottles equals enough energy for a two-person family for an entire year.

stanford.edu Report

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#10

In the United States, electronic trash makes up around 2% of the waste stream.

nytimes.com Report

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#11

40 hectares of rainforest are cleared every minute for agricultural and industrial development.

nationalgeographic.org Report

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#12

The average UK office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year.

restore.co.uk Report

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#13

One sheet of A4 paper requires approximately 10 litres of water to produce.

paperontherocks.com Report

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#14

More than 90% of all goods shipped from the United States are packaged in corrugated boxes which is more than 400 billion square of cardboard.

recyclingsimplified.com Report

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Eric C.
Eric C.
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"400 billion square feet of cardboard" - the complete text from the original article

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#15

About 95% of discarded food ends up in landfills.

hsph.harvard.edu Report

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Lene
Lene
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All that compost that will never be used as such because it's probably contaminated with chemicals or something like that at the landfill. 😔

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#16

American firms use over 21 million tons of paper yearly.

anjr.com Report

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#17

Tires, pens, razor blades, diapers, and aluminum are the most often thrown-away items in America, all of these materials can be recycled to make new products.

mga.edu Report

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Lisa H
Lisa H
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even USED diapers? Sorry, I'm genuinely confused by this.

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#18

Around half of all fruits, vegetables produced globally are wasted each year.

un.org Report

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#19

In the UK, just 27% of batteries are recycled, which results in almost 20,000 tonnes of battery trash going straight to the dump.

threerivers.gov.uk Report

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Lousha
Lousha
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had personal experience with this as I used to work in a place that was required to accept used batteries for recycling. While it was mandatory for us to collect the batteries, nobody EVER checked our paperwork, or if we properly forwarded the batteries to a site where they actually would've been recycled. Most people did not know that they could just bring their used batteries of almost any kind into a shop like ours so often they just tossed them because they didn't know what to do with them. The service that was supposed to collect our collected batteries often did not turn up to pick them up. We heard rumors that they just dumped them anyways. Where I'm going with all this is that while I do firmly believe in personal responsibility, I also think that if we as a people want to see change, the people in charge need to make things like this easy and accessible to all, need to educate about it, and need to actually monitor the outcome.

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#20

The typical person could recycle over 25,000 cans in their lifetime.

arcubed.com Report

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#21

85% of textiles end up in landfills or are incinerated although most of these materials could be reused.

unfccc.int Report

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Headless Roach
Headless Roach
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"That's terrible. Anyway, have you seen the 15th collection at H&M this year?"

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#22

The percentage of recovered corrugated cardboard for recycling is 70%.

wm.com Report

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#23

The amount of municipal solid waste landfilled in 2015 was roughly 137.7 million tons.

epa.gov Report

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#24

Paper waste in the United States amounts to about 1 billion trees annually.

dartmouth.edu Report

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#25

Recycling one aluminum can results in energy savings sufficient to power a TV for three hours.

mga.edu Report

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#26

The United States produces around 100 billion cardboard boxes every year.

new.abb.com Report

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#27

One ton of recycled cardboard prevents the use of 46 gallons of oil.

fundwaste.co.uk Report

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#28

Nearly 40 million tons of food are wasted in the United States each year, more than any other nation.

rts.com Report

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#29

Recycling one glass bottle can save enough energy to run a 100-watt lightbulb for four hours.

lehighcounty.org Report

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#30

In as little as 60 days, an aluminum can is recycled and put back on the grocery store shelf as a brand-new can.

crowncork.com Report

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#31

Each year, Americans discard 25 billion coffee cups made of Styrofoam.

colliercountyfl.gov Report

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#32

In the United States, landfills receive around 11.3 million tons of textile waste annually or about 70 pounds per person.

epa.gov Report

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Domi
Domi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because people are too lazy to look for other options.

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#33

Some 54 million metric tonnes of phones, computers, and other so-called e-waste are produced a year. Only 17 percent of e-waste is recycled.

naturalhomebrands.com Report

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#34

Over 70% of all garbage in offices is made up of paper.

roadrunnerwm.com Report

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Headless Roach
Headless Roach
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a hidden benefit of working from home - no one prints as much anymore on their home devices.

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#35

For every ton of recycled paper produced, 17 mature trees can be preserved.

inconfidence.com.au Report

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#36

Recyclable aluminum may be produced with only 5% of the energy required to create a product from new materials.

archive.epa.gov Report

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#37

In 2014, the United States produced 258 million tons of municipal solid garbage.

epa.gov Report

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#38

EPA estimates that 75% of American trash is recyclable, yet we barely recycle about 30% of it.

personalcarecouncil.org Report

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Well-Dressed Wolf
Well-Dressed Wolf
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The question I always heard is “Who pays for the recycling process?” I think a lot of people are afraid to demand better recycling programs in their cities due to that cost getting passed onto the taxpayer.

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#39

There are recycling programs available to 94% of Americans.

americancommunities.org Report

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#40

In 2010 it was estimated that paper recycling had increased by over 89% since 1990.

researchgate.net Report

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#41

40 percent of the devices sent to U.S. recyclers were exported offshore, with the vast majority ending up in Asia.

wiki.ban.org Report

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#42

A third of the items in most landfills are packaging that could be recycled.

earthdate.org Report

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#43

Up to 80% of a car's original components can be recycled and utilized again.

sellmax.com Report

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#44

Every day, 1.4 million untouched bananas are thrown away.

theguardian.com Report

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#45

Many regions of Asia and Africa as well as some other countries throughout the world have partial bans on plastic bags.

en.wikipedia.org Report

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#46

Recycling cardboard uses only 75% of the energy required to manufacture new cardboard.

allcountyrecycling.com Report

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#47

In the US, food waste makes up more than 21% of municipal solid waste.

css.umich.edu Report

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#48

Every hour, 2.5 million plastic bottles are discarded in the United States.

thegreenteam.org Report

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#49

Just 23% of throwaway water bottles are recycled.

tappwater.co Report

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#50

One ton of plastic can be recycled, saving 1,000–2,000 gallons of gasoline.

wastewiseproductsinc.com Report

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#51

When combined, recycling and composting can reduce energy consumption by three to four times compared to burning waste.

zerowasteeurope.eu Report

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#52

Styrofoam never decomposes.

acespace.org Report

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fromsarawithlove9 avatar
RageHivewing
RageHivewing
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It only breaks into smaller and smaller micro plastics which are eaten by plankton and work up the food chain until we eventually are ingesting it

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#53

Each year, the world produces more than 29 million US tons of polystyrene (plastic foam).

earthday.org Report

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#54

Modern glass bottles would take at least 4,000 years to break down, and even longer if they were disposed of in a landfill.

activesustainability.com Report

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#55

Every year, landfills receive more than 28 billion glass bottles and jars. Two Empire State Buildings could be filled with that every three weeks.

recycleacrossamerica.org Report

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#56

In America, 85 million tons of paper are consumed annually, or around 680 pounds per person.

arkansasstateparks.com Report

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#57

For every ton of recycled paper, 7,000 gallons of water are conserved.

portal.ct.gov Report

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#58

One tree is saved when three feet of newspaper are recycled.

twitter.com Report

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#59

Trash recycling typically costs $30 per ton, landfill disposal costs $50, and incineration costs between $65 and $75 per ton.

epa.gov Report

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#60

For every ton of cardboard recycled, 9 cubic yards of landfill space are saved.

Report

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#61

Recycled plastic uses 88% less energy than plastic produced from raw materials.

plasticsrecycling.org Report

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#62

In the US a person produces 4.4 pounds of trash per day, with roughly 1.51 pounds recycled per person per day.

citibin.com Report

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