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According to the EPA, Paper represents 33.9% of the 251 million tons of waste produced by U.S. residents.
While it has one of the highest recycling rates, only a little over 50% of paper is recovered. This means that 41.3 million tons of paper still goes into a landfill or is incinerated each year. That is equivalent to 16.5 billion reams of standard office paper.
Recycle your paper every time. The number one way we recommend to reduce your household waste is to recycle 100% your paper all the time.
Paper products account for nearly half of all nondurable goods used. This includes newspapers and magazines, even phone books.
A good way to reduce paper waste is to eliminate these products from our lives. Try using the internet to access news and magazines. Also, give the phone book company a call and request being taken off their list.
Quick Facts:
>> Recycled paper saves 60% of the energy used on virgin paper.
>> Recycling 1 Ton of Mixed Paper Saves:
>>> 3.3 yds3 of landfill space
>>> 17 trees
>>> 7000 gal. of water
>>> 185 gal. of gas
>>> 60 lbs of air pollution
While only accounting for less than 1% of the waste stream, there are still 1.94 million tons of aluminum
containers produced each year.
Like paper, aluminum cans have one of the highest recycling rates at 45.1%.
It is also one of the easiest and quickest products to recycle. The average can will take 60 days to go from your recycle bin back to the shelf. For this reason, canned beverages are recommended over plastic containers.
The next time you have a choice between a plastic or aluminum container, consider the benefits that aluminum offers in its disposal.
You can also invest in a can crusher to help eliminate the volume of cans you store before recycling them. While it is not impossible, this is not as easy with plastic containers.
Quick Facts:
>> Recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy to process than virgin stock.
>> Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours or a 100 W light bulb for 4 hours.
>> Enough aluminum is wasted to rebuild the U.S. commercial jet fleet each year
Plastic makes up 11.7% of municipal solid waste. According to EPA estimations, that is 29 million tons of Plastic per year.
The recycling rate for plastics is very low. Depending on the type of plastic, the rates can range from 6 to 30 percent. Number 1 and 2 plastics (water bottles and milk jugs) exhibit the highest recycling rate at 30% each.
However, when you consider that the conservative estimate for a plastic bottle decomposing in the landfill is 1 million years, the 30 percent recycling rate is alarming.
Knoxville offers Mixed Plastic (numbers 1-7) drop-off, which means you don’t have to sort it. Just make sure it is clean. The only thing not allowed is styrofoam.
The following are the various types of plastic:
>> 1 PET – Carbonated drink bottles, water bottles
>> 2 HDPE – Bottles for milk and soaps/detergents, cereal box liners
>> 3 PVC – Food trays, plastic wrap, and shampoo bottles
>> 4 LDPE – Grocery bags and bin liners, bread and frozen food bags
>> 5 PP – Yogurt and margarine tubs, and microwaveable meal trays
>> 6 PS – Vending cups, plastic cutlery, CD cases
>> 7 OTHER – Any other plastics not in other categories
Steel cans are a great example of recycling at work. With one of the highest recycling rates at 62%, steel cans complete the recycling loop by containing a minimum of 25% recycled steel content.
Steel cans are a small percent of our waste stream, but overall metals represent nearly 10% of our generated waste. Steel creation from raw materials is very costly, and the steel industry has been using the benefits of recycling for over 150 years.
Nearly all other metals are recyclable. Copper is another example of an easily recycled metal that benefits us by lowering wire costs. Steel is relatively easy to recycle, because it can be sorted out from other recyclables using magnets.
Each drop-off center in Knoxville has a container for steel cans. Please do your part by sorting them.
Metal theft is increasingly becoming a problem. Please do not take metal that is not yours. Even taking metal
out of curb side bins is illegal. That is how all of the recycling programs are funded.
Quick Facts:
>> More steel is recycled each year in the US than plastic.
>> Over 100 million steel cans are used every day in the US.
>> 75% of the energy used in creating steel from raw materials is saved by recycled steel.
>> One ton of recycled steel saves 2,500 lbs of iron ore, 1,400 lbs of coal, and 120 lbs. of limestone.
>> Steel cans have a minimum of 25% recycled content and often it is 100%.
Harriet says:
December 18, 2009 at 9:42 amI am wondering about a couple of things — first, deodorant sticks… they don’t have a number on them and I have read elsewhere because the different parts are made of different plastics, they can’t be recycled. Is that true here?
Second, plastic cutlery with no numbers on it… OK to clean and recycle? Is aluminum foil still out? A friend was told to put it in with aluminum cans at a county recycling center. Thanks!
Leslie says:
August 30, 2010 at 1:14 pmCan aluminum pans/pie plates (such as the pans in which frozen dinner rolls or pound cakes come) be placed in the aluminum can bins?
Education says:
October 4, 2010 at 8:45 amLeslie great question. Aluminum pans/pie plates should NOT be placed in the aluminum can bins. This is because aluminum beverages cans are a #5 grade aluminum. Pans and other disposable aluminum products can vary in their grade. Pans and other items are rejected by our local processor and probably 90% of all processors in the US.
Education says:
December 14, 2010 at 9:37 amIn a word no. It is true that they are made of recyclable plastic; however, the recycling processor in Knoxville does not recycle them.