General Waste and Recycling Facts:

• In Illinois, we recycled 35% of all our solid waste in 1999, up from only 8% recycling in 1986. Current levels of recycling have reduced the need for landfills by one-third.
  
  
•  Illinois residents and businesses recycled 5.3 million tons of material in 1999, or 815 pounds per person.
  
  
• In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of as much as 100,000 pounds of trash for his or her children.
  
  
• Americans comprise only 5% of the worldâs population, but we consume 25% of the world's resources.

Material Recycling Rates and Facts

Paper Facts:

• Nationwide, 48% of all paper was recycled in 2000.  71% of old newspapers were recycled; 75% of old corrugated boxes were recycled; and 41% of all office paper was recycled.
  
  
• In 2000, Illinois residents and businesses recycled 2,272,000 tons of paper - 350 pounds per person; BUT 379 pounds per person were still landfilled!
  
  
• Every day, enough paper is recycled in the United States to fill a 15-mile long train of boxcars.
  
  
• The first paper made in America - more than 300 years ago in Pennsylvania - was recycled paper made from cloth rags.
  
  
• Recycling one ton of paper saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 7,000 gallons of water, and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air.
  
  
• Americans throw away enough office and writing paper each year to build a wall twelve-feet high stretching from New York City to Los Angeles.

Steel Facts

• Nationwide, 64% of all steel was recycled in 2000.   58% of all steel cans were recycled, 84% of all discarded appliances were recycled, and 95% of all junk automobiles were recycled.
  
  
• In 2000, Illinois residents and businesses recycled  897,000,000 steel cans - 69 per person; but 49 cans per person were still landfilled.
  
  
• Enough steel cans were recycled in 2000 to build 20 Golden Gate Bridges.
  
  
• Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.

Aluminum Facts:

• Nationwide, 62% of all aluminum cans were recycled in 2000
  
  
• In 2000, Illinois residents and businesses recycled 2,879,000,000 aluminum cans - 222 cans per person; BUT 135 cans per person were still landfilled.
  
  
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television, or operate a computer for three hours.

Glass Facts:

• Nationwide, 38% of all glass bottles were recycled in 2000.
  
  
• In 2000, Illinois residents and businesses recycled 618,000,000 glass containers - 54 per person; BUT 88 cans per person were still thrown away!
  
  
• Every glass bottle recycled saves enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for four hours

Textile Facts:

• Nationwide, 29% of discarded textiles were recycled in 2000.
  
  
• Each American disposes about 35 pounds of old clothing and other textiles each year.  10 pounds per person is recycled.
  
  
• Of all the old clothing donated for recycling and re-use, 44% ends up as second-hand clothing (typically sold to third world countries), 20% is used to make wiping and polishing cloths, and the rest is used to make other fiber products.

Plastics Facts:

• Nationwide, 6% of all discarded plastic was recycled in 2000.  21% of all discarded plastic bottles were recycled.
  
  
• In 2000, Illinois residents and businesses recycled 5 pounds of plastic bottles per person; BUT 20 pounds per person of plastic bottles were still landfilled!
  
  
• Recycled PET (#1) bottles are used to make fiber (58%), strapping (13%), and containers (17%).
  
  
• Recycled HDPE (#2) bottles are used to make more bottles (36%), pipe (19%), lawn/garden items (11%), and lumber (8%).
  
  
• Half of all the polyester carpet manufactured in the U.S. is made from recycled plastic bottles.  It takes five two-liter plastic bottles to make one square foot of carpet.
  
  
• Each year, Illinoisans use and dispose 1.1 billion foam cups, enough to encircle the Earth 19 times.
  
  
• Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour!

Environmental Benefits of Recycling

Recycling Saves Energy

• Using energy requires the consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels and involves emissions of numerous air and water pollutants.  Manufacturing items from recycled material uses less energy than making those items from raw natural resources.
  
  
• Recycling saves enough energy each year to provide heat and light for 400,000 Illinois homes.

Recycling Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions in three ways:

• Reducing emissions from energy consumption. Manufacturing goods from recycled materials requires less energy than producing goods from virgin materials.  When less energy is needed, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere.
  
  
• Reducing methane emissions from landfills.  By diverting organic materials from landfills, we reduce the methane released when these materials decompose.
  
  
• Increasing storage of carbon in trees.  Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in wood, in a process called Acarbon sequestration@.  Waste prevention and recycling of paper products allow more trees to remain standing in the forest.

Recycling Reduces Emissions of Air and Water Pollutants

• Recycling produces less of 27 different types of pollutants, when compared with using virgin materials, in manufacturing products and disposing wastes.

Recycling Conserves Natural Resources

• Recycling reduces the need for landfills, allowing local lands to be used in more environmentally preferable ways.  And, by substituting scrap materials for the use of trees, metal ores, minerals, oil, and other virgin materials, recycling reduces the pressure to expand forestry and mining production.