Recycling helps to prevent Global Warming

There is good news and bad news concerning United States recycling statistics.

First, the good news:

The recovery rate of municipal solid waste (a fancy way of saying city garbage) through recycling and composting programs was up to 32% as of 2005 (the US General Accounting Office only reports every two years).

That is a significant increase from 1980, when less than 10% was recycled.
Now, the bad news:

Since 1980, the generation of municipal solid waste has grown by 60% – nearly 246 million tons per year in 2005!

Organic materials make up the bulk of wastes that go into land fills. Around 35% are paper and cardboard, while yard trimmings and food scraps total about 25%.

Some Encouraging Recycling Facts

With paper products, we’re doing pretty well; almost half of the paper used in the USA is now being recycled into new paper products. That’s more than glass, metal, plastic, and “miscellaneous” combined.

The largest category of recycled paper goods was newspaper at 89%, followed closely by corrugated cardboard, at 72%.

Some paper can’t be reprocessed because of being soiled by food, etc.

Many municipalities will pick up tree trimmings and Christmas trees and turn them into mulch for parks and landscaped street medians. This has an added benefit of saving irrigation water.

Residential grass clippings and food waste can be easily composted and shouldn’t ordinarily be sent to the landfill.

Particularly good news is that lead acid batteries – a landfill disaster – are the recycling winners, with a whopping rate of 99% recovery!

Other high recovery rates include major appliances – 67%, steel cans – 63%, and aluminum cans – 45%, although the rate of aluminum recycling has dropped from a high of 68% in 1992.

Some credit for increases in the United States recycling statistics must go to the Keep America Beautiful organization’s Great American Clean-Up program. This annual event boasts 2 million volunteers and diverts thousands of tons of litter and garbage to recycling projects rather than landfills (or landscapes.

Aluminum should be recycled whenever possible; recycling saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminum from raw materials.

For more United States recycling statistics, please visit the National Recycling Coalition website.

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