facts.

Most people have heard how important it is to recycle and many cities offer recycling programs, but what exactly is recycling and how much does it actually help?

PAPER

• Each of us uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products per year.
• More than 56 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. during 2007 was recovered for recycling — an all-time high. This impressive figure equals nearly 360 pounds of paper for each man, woman, and child in America.
• More than 400 paper mills in the United States use at least some recovered materials in their manufacturing processes, and more than 200 of those mills use recovered fiber exclusively.
• The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.

PLASTICS

• Americans go through 25 billion plastic bottles every year.
• Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap Texas. Royal Paper Stock processes 15 loads of shrink-wrap a month.
• 26 recycled PET bottles equals a polyester suit. 5 recycled PET bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.
• Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

METALS

• Recycling steel and tin cans saves 74% of the energy used to produce them.
• Energy saved from recycling one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours – or the equivalent of half a gallon of gasoline.
• A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by about 70%.