Recycling Facts

A recycled aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.

If all the aluminum cans in the United States were recycled there would be 14 million fewer dustbins annually.

Recycling 1KG of aluminum saves up to 6KG of bauxite, 4KG of chemical products, and 14 kWh of electricity.

Each household in the United States uses approximately 600 steel cans per year.

The recycling rate of steel packaging is 46.

Recycling one ton of steel scrap saves more than 80% of the CO2 emissions produced when making steel from iron ore.

Recycling seven steel cans saves enough energy to power a 60 watt lightbulb for 26 hours.

Every year the United States saves enough energy to supply Los Angeles with nearly a decade’s worth of electricity, by recycling steel.

Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch. This means 20 cans could be made out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. Energy savings in 2007 were enough to light a city the size of Detroit for eight years.

$15.7 Billion worth of scrap commodities were exported in 2007.

Scrap metal was the second largest export to China in dollar value in 2007.

American throw away (dispose, not recycle) enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.

Americans throw away (dispose, not recycle) enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis.

A steel mill that recycles scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollutions, and mining wastes by about 70%.

When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you filled the same can half full with gasoline, and just threw it on the ground.

The 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of 600 million dollars.

Making cans from recycled aluminum cuts air related pollution by 95%.

7-8 million vehicles are recycled every year. Auto recycling supplies the nation’s scrap industry with about 37% of its ferrous scrap processing, making it one of the major sources of scrap metal.

97% of all beverage cans are aluminum.

America alone uses 80,000,000,000 aluminum cans every year.

It takes 90 days for a beverage in an aluminum can to return to a grocer’s shelf, after collection, smelting, rolling, manufacturing, and distribution.

Every day Americans use enough steel to run a pipeline from New York to Los Angeles and back to New York.

Each year, North America recycles more steel than plastic.

Americans use 100 million steel cans every day.

The steel industry has been recycling for over 150 years.

The steel industry’s largest source of raw material is scrap metal, which is commonly collected by recycling steel.

Recycling steel saves 75 percent of the energy that would be used to create steel from raw materials, enough to power 18 million homes.

Over 65 percent of the steel produced in the U.S. is recycled into new steel every year.

One ton of recycled steel saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.

A steel frame for a 2,000 square foot, two-story house is equivalent to the material of about six recycled cars; a comparable wooden frame takes over 40 trees to produce.

A typical household appliance is produced using approximately 65 percent steel.

Steel cans contain at least 25 percent recycled steel, with many nearly reaching 100 percent recycled content.

Nearly 12 million vehicles reach the end of their useful lives every year in North America.

75% of an old car can be recycled.

Using recycled metal saves up to 74 water consumption. It also reduces air pollution by about 86.

Automobiles are made of almost 100% recycled steel.