Recycling

Why Buy Recycled?
Recycling is more than just dropping off your cans, bottles, and newspapers at the curb or at a local collection facility. Diverting recyclables from the waste stream is only the first of three steps in the recycling process. The second step occurs when companies use these recyclables to manufacture new products. The third step comes when you purchase products made from recovered materials. That�s how we close the loop.

Buying recycled products results in many environmental benefits. It supports local recycling programs by creating markets for the collected materials that are processed and used to manufacture new products. This creates jobs and helps strengthen the economy; conserves natural resources; saves energy; and reduces solid waste, air and water pollutants, and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
(Source: Environmental Protection Agency)

Recycling Facts & Figures

�   In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
�   While recycling has grown in general, recycling of specific materials has grown even more drastically: 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of all major appliances are now recycled.
�   The average American generates 1.32 tons of trash every year.
�   There are approximately 8,875 curbside recycling programs in the United States (a drop from 9,709 in 2000).
�   Approximately 1.4 million Americans have access to curbside recycling in their community.
�   The aluminum can is the most recycled beverage container on the planet.
�   When an aluminum can is recycled it is back on the grocery shelf as another aluminum can within 60 days.
�   Recycling one ton of material saves three cubic yards of landfill space.
�   Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.
�   The energy consumed by the average American family in 20 months can be replenished by simply recycling one ton of aluminum.
�   Last year the average American household trashed over 2,819 pounds of recyclable materials such as cans, newspaper and soda bottles. That equates to $12.5 BILLION in lost energy.
�   An aluminum can has no limit to the number of times it can be recycled.
�   Every day one hundred million aluminum beverage cans are sent to the landfill, littered or incinerated in the U.S.
�   Incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates one job; landfilling 10,000 tons of waste creates six jobs; recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs.
�   In 2000, the national recycling rate of 30 percent saved the equivalent of more than five billion gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels.
�   By recycling all of its paper, plastic, and corrugated waste generated in a year, an office building of 7,000 workers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,200 metric tons of carbon equivalent. This is equivalent to taking 900 cars off the road in one year.
�   There are more than 4,500 products available with recycled content.
(Source: State of Garbage Report, Bio Cycle Magazine, EPA, Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute and Resource Recycling Magazine)

Recycled Paper Information:

Before buying recycled-content paper products meeting EPA�s recommendations, you�ll need to understand some important terms.

Post-consumer fiber materials are those that we recycle from our homes and offices, which would otherwise be landfill. This does not include newsstand returns and printer�s overruns.

Recovered fiber materials includes scrap generated at mills after the end of the papermaking process; converting and printing scrap; newsstand returns and printers� overruns; obsolete inventory of mills, printers, and others; damaged stock; and post consumer fiber. Recovered fiber is not waste. The EPA has replaced the term waste paper used in the 1988 guidelines with recovered fiber, to acknowledge that this material is a valuable resource.

How many times can a piece of paper be recycled?
It is important for consumers to keep in mind, however, that recovered paper fibers cannot be recycled indefinitely. Papermaking fibers can typically be recycled 5-7 times before they become too short to be recycled again. Paper fiber eventually breaks down into short, weak fibers that are not strong enough to be recycled into new paper products. For this reason, it is necessary for the paper industry to harvest new fiber that can be infused into the recycled paper manufacturing process.

How much paper do we use?
Every year Americans use an average of 700 pounds of paper products per person.

What can be made from recovered paper?
Most recovered paper is recycled back into paper and paperboard products that are generally a grade similar to or of lower quality than the original product. For example, old corrugated boxes are used to make new recycled corrugated boxes. Recycled paper is also used to make thing such as animal bedding, kitty litter and insulation. Many packaging materials are also made from recycled products.

What products can be recycled?
Virtually all-clean paper is recyclable. It is important, however, to keep paper free from contaminants such as food, adhesives, wax, glass, plastics and metal that may damage the fiber or compromise its quality. Paper that can�t be recycled must be composted, burned or as a last resort land filled.
(Source: EPA, ncforestry.org, GreenSangha.org)

The Environmental Benefits of Recycling Paper

In the early 1970s, an EPA study for Congress concluded that using one ton of 100% recycled paper saves 4,100 kwh of energy (enough to power the average home for six months) and 7,000 gallons of water. It also keeps more than 60 pounds of pollution out of the air. Paper mills have become much more efficient since that time, but recycling paper still results in far less resource and environmental demand than making virgin paper.

That one ton of recycled paper also saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, which is increasingly important as many local landfills near their capacity. Because size, height and usable parts of trees vary, it is hard to estimate exactly how many trees go into making a ton of recycled paper, but paper industry representatives have estimated that one ton of recycled paper saves approximately 17 trees.

In 1995, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), through its Paper Task Force, compared the energy requirements and environmental releases from 100% recycled fiber-based and 100% virgin fiber-based systems. EDF used a comprehensive approach which considered many life-cycle aspects to better assess the full range of environmental consequences. For recycling operations, this included collecting, transporting and processing recovered paper, as well as disposal of residuals from recovery facilities and paper manufacturing (sludge). For virgin paper operations, it included harvesting trees, transporting logs, debarking and chipping, as well as collection of the paper after its use and transport and processing at landfills and waste-to-energy incinerators. For both systems, it included appropriate pulping and manufacturing processes. EDF's analysis showed "clear and substantial environmental advantages from recycling all the grades of paper" they examined, including printing and writing paper, and listed more than a dozen parameters.

Recycled paper also needs less bleaching than virgin paper. Because the paper was bleached in its first production cycle, it can use less bleach and more easily avoid chlorine bleaches the second time around. Several recycling mills are processing their paper chlorine-free (PCF), although the paper probably still carries some chlorine from its original production. However, few of these mills then combine the PCF fiber with TCF virgin pulp. Since many buy their virgin pulp on the open market, it is reasonable to assume that much of it is still chlorine-bleached.
(Source: Conservatree)

If every household in the U.S replaced just one 4-pack of 500 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

�   1.2 million trees
�   5.1 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to over 5000 full garbage trucks
�   537 million gallons of water, a year's supply for over 15,300 families of four (It takes much more water to convert trees into paper then it takes to convert office and home paper into new toilet paper.)
�   230,000 pounds of pollution avoided, including chlorine toxins

Next time your shopping for toilet paper look for paper made from 100% recycled fibers, 80% post-consumer content, and no chlorine bleaching.
(Source: EPA, ncforestry.org, GreenSangha.org)

Recycling Plastic Information:

All community-recycling programs are typically independent of one another. What you recycle depends on where you live. While there are many different types of plastics, not all of them can be recycled and some of those that can be recycled may not be eligible for curbside pick-up or accepted at your local recycling location. To find out which types of plastic you can recycle in your area, you'll have to contact your local municipal office or recycling centers. Of the types of plastic that can be recycled, it is critical that they be recycled with their own kind because even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin the melt. Therefore, sorting plastic is a critical part of the recycling process.

To help identify and sort recyclable plastic, the American Society of Plastics Industry developed a standard code. This code simply identifies the type of plastic used to make that object (See Resin Codes Below). It does not indicate whether recyclable plastic was used to make that piece, nor does it indicate whether that type of plastic can be recycled. The code, generally located on the bottom of the plastic container, consists of three arrows that cycle clockwise and create a triangle with rounded corners. Inside each triangle is a number that identifies that plastic's type.

Virtually everything made of plastic should be marked with a code. Not all types can actually be recycled. Types 1 and 2 are widely accepted in container form, and type 4 is sometimes accepted in bag form. Code 7 is for mixed or layered plastic with virtually no recycling potential. You should place in your bin only those types of plastic listed by your local recycling agency!

Products that are or can be made from recycled plastics today include non-food containers, trash cans, fiber-fill for vests and jackets, traffic cones, carpet backing, insulation, plastic lumber and drain pipe. Yet, before we can begin to absorb more of the waste plastic that is not being reused, more products must be identified as compatible with recycling and more effective recycling methods must be found. However by being aware of what plastics can and can't be recycled means that you can make more informed choices in your purchases and in your recycling efforts.

The Plastic Packaging Resins Codes:
www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/bin.asp?CID=1102&DID=4645&DOC=FILE.PDF