Stats and Facts about Recycling

General Recycling

Landfill waste density is typically considered to be 0.7 - 0.85 tonnes/m3. For degraded waste, the density rises to 0.86 - 1 tonnes/m3 [source: UK Gov.]
Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year [source: Waste Watch]
Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television. [source: www.assurre.org]
On average every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks [source: Waste Watch]
Every 8 months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England) [source: Waste Watch]
In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall
[source: Waste Watch]
Rubbish collection and keeping our streets clean costs council tax payers about £1.6 billion per year [source: UK Gov ]
Nine out of ten people in England and Wales would recycle more if it was made easier. [source: UK Gov]

Aluminium

If all the aluminium drinks cans sold in the UK were recycled, there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins per year [source: www.alupro.org.uk]
If all of the aluminium cans recycled in the UK in 1998 were laid end to end, they would stretch from Land's End to John O'Groats more than 160 times [source: www.alupro.org.uk]
In the UK, 75% of all drinks cans are made of aluminium.
In 2001 we got through a whopping 5 billion cans – and recycled 42% of them. That’s well up on 1989’s figure of 2%, but still 3 billion cans went to landfill unnecessarily.
It’s better news in industry – larger aluminium products, used in buildings and vehicles for example, have a 95% recycling rate. That’s simply because they’re more valuable.
Amazingly, recycling it requires only 5% of the energy it takes to make new aluminium – and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions.
Just one recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours!

Steel

In industry, steel recycling is common – ‘home scrap’ generated by the steel manufacturing process is re-melted and used over and over again. It never leaves the mill, refinery or foundry.
At home, we get through around 500,000 tonnes of steel packaging for our food – that’s about 12 billion cans - or 600 per home - but 9 billion of these still go to landfill.
The good news is that we’re getting better recycling them – in 2003 we recycled 44% of steel packaging, including 3 billion steel cans! The government target is to increase that to 54% by 2008. So get recycling!
Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed for steel made from virgin material [source: www.scrib.org]
Every steel can is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled over and over again into products like bicycles and of course new cans [source: www.recycle-more.co.uk]

Glass Recycling

The largest glass furnaces produce more than 400 tonnes – that's more than one million bottles and jars - each day! [source: www.ollierecycles.com]
Glass can be recycled again and again without losing its clarity or purity [source: www.britglass.co.uk]
Milk bottles are reused an average of 13 times before recycling [source: Surrey County Council ]
The UK has more than 50,000 bottle banks [source: www.britglass.co.uk]
One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied. [source: www.britglass.co.uk]
We use around 2.5 million tonnes of container glass in the UK. Around 629,000 tonnes of that may be imported.
In 2005 we recycled 1,259,000 tonnes of used glass (known as ‘cullet’).
Container glass for bottles and jars makes up around 80% of the UK’s recycled glass market.
Any glass product can use up to 80% recycled material.
Probably the most important thing about recycling glass is the energy saving – when using recycled glass to make new containers, 315Kg of CO2 is saved for every tonne of recycled glass used.
Making glass bottles and jars from recycled ones saves energy. The energy saving from recycling one bottle will:
Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour
Power a computer for 20 minutes
Power a colour TV for 15 minutes
Power a washing machine for 10 minutes [source: www.britglass.co.uk]

Paper Recycling

On average, each person in the UK uses over 200 kg of paper per year. 61 % of this is recycled, however 79 % is realistically achievable.
We use 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard every year in the UK. [source: Confederation of Paper Industrie]
Over Christmas as much as 83 km2 of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey. [source: www.wastewatch.org.uk]
Around 20% of all the household rubbish we throw away is paper and card, and approximately half of this is made up of newspapers and magazines which can be recycled.
The average person reads newspapers amounting to around 38kg in weight each year.
Recycled paper made up 80.3% of the raw materials for UK newspapers in 2005.

Textiles Recycling

If every Briton purchased one item made from recycled wool a year it would save 371 million gallons of water, 480 tonnes of chemical dyes and 4571 million days of an average family's electricity needs [source: UK Gov]
Nearly 3 billion nappies are thrown away in the UK every year. 90% of these end up in landfill, where they could take hundreds of years to decompose [source: UK Gov]
Present clothes banks are only operating at about 25% capacity [source: www.e4s.org.uk]
Total arisings of textile waste are estimated to be between 550,000 and 900,000 tonnes per year, with most of this coming from household sources [source: UK Gov]

Plastic Recycling

The UK produces 3 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Approximately 85% is landfilled, 8% incinerated and 7% recycled
Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours
It takes just 25 two litre pop bottles to make one adult size fleece jacket
150 million plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each week —they can take up to 500 years to decay in landfill.

Green Waste Recycling

Every tonne of biodegradable waste produces 300-500 cubic metres of landfill gas [source: Waste Treatment and Disposal - P T Williams 1998, pp. 240]
Landfill sites released 20% of the UK's methane emissions in 2002 [source: UK Gov]

For more stats, facts and tips, visit www.recyclenow.com.

	Stats and Facts about Recycling General Recycling Landfill waste density is typically considered to be 0.7 - 0.85 tonnes/m3. For degraded waste, the density rises to 0.86 - 1 tonnes/m3 [source: UK Gov.] Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year [source: Waste Watch] Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television. [source: www.assurre.org] On average every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks [source: Waste Watch] Every 8 months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England) [source: Waste Watch] In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall [source: Waste Watch] Rubbish collection and keeping our streets clean costs council tax payers about £1.6 billion per year [source: UK Gov ] Nine out of ten people in England and Wales would recycle more if it was made easier. [source: UK Gov] Aluminium If all the aluminium drinks cans sold in the UK were recycled, there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins per year [source: www.alupro.org.uk] If all of the aluminium cans recycled in the UK in 1998 were laid end to end, they would stretch from Land's End to John O'Groats more than 160 times [source: www.alupro.org.uk] In the UK, 75% of all drinks cans are made of aluminium. In 2001 we got through a whopping 5 billion cans – and recycled 42% of them. That’s well up on 1989’s figure of 2%, but still 3 billion cans went to landfill unnecessarily. It’s better news in industry – larger aluminium products, used in buildings and vehicles for example, have a 95% recycling rate. That’s simply because they’re more valuable. Amazingly, recycling it requires only 5% of the energy it takes to make new aluminium – and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions. Just one recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours! Steel In industry, steel recycling is common – ‘home scrap’ generated by the steel manufacturing process is re-melted and used over and over again. It never leaves the mill, refinery or foundry. At home, we get through around 500,000 tonnes of steel packaging for our food – that’s about 12 billion cans - or 600 per home - but 9 billion of these still go to landfill. The good news is that we’re getting better recycling them – in 2003 we recycled 44% of steel packaging, including 3 billion steel cans! The government target is to increase that to 54% by 2008. So get recycling! Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed for steel made from virgin material [source: www.scrib.org] Every steel can is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled over and over again into products like bicycles and of course new cans [source: www.recycle-more.co.uk] Glass Recycling The largest glass furnaces produce more than 400 tonnes – that's more than one million bottles and jars - each day! [source: www.ollierecycles.com] Glass can be recycled again and again without losing its clarity or purity [source: www.britglass.co.uk] Milk bottles are reused an average of 13 times before recycling [source: Surrey County Council ] The UK has more than 50,000 bottle banks [source: www.britglass.co.uk] One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied. [source: www.britglass.co.uk] We use around 2.5 million tonnes of container glass in the UK. Around 629,000 tonnes of that may be imported. In 2005 we recycled 1,259,000 tonnes of used glass (known as ‘cullet’). Container glass for bottles and jars makes up around 80% of the UK’s recycled glass market. Any glass product can use up to 80% recycled material. Probably the most important thing about recycling glass is the energy saving – when using recycled glass to make new containers, 315Kg of CO2 is saved for every tonne of recycled glass used. Making glass bottles and jars from recycled ones saves energy. The energy saving from recycling one bottle will: Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour Power a computer for 20 minutes Power a colour TV for 15 minutes Power a washing machine for 10 minutes [source: www.britglass.co.uk] Paper Recycling On average, each person in the UK uses over 200 kg of paper per year. 61 % of this is recycled, however 79 % is realistically achievable. We use 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard every year in the UK. [source: Confederation of Paper Industrie] Over Christmas as much as 83 km2 of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey. [source: www.wastewatch.org.uk] Around 20% of all the household rubbish we throw away is paper and card, and approximately half of this is made up of newspapers and magazines which can be recycled. The average person reads newspapers amounting to around 38kg in weight each year. Recycled paper made up 80.3% of the raw materials for UK newspapers in 2005. Textiles Recycling If every Briton purchased one item made from recycled wool a year it would save 371 million gallons of water, 480 tonnes of chemical dyes and 4571 million days of an average family's electricity needs [source: UK Gov] Nearly 3 billion nappies are thrown away in the UK every year. 90% of these end up in landfill, where they could take hundreds of years to decompose [source: UK Gov] Present clothes banks are only operating at about 25% capacity [source: www.e4s.org.uk] Total arisings of textile waste are estimated to be between 550,000 and 900,000 tonnes per year, with most of this coming from household sources [source: UK Gov] Plastic Recycling The UK produces 3 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Approximately 85% is landfilled, 8% incinerated and 7% recycled Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours It takes just 25 two litre pop bottles to make one adult size fleece jacket 150 million plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each week —they can take up to 500 years to decay in landfill. Green Waste Recycling Every tonne of biodegradable waste produces 300-500 cubic metres of landfill gas [source: Waste Treatment and Disposal - P T Williams 1998, pp. 240] Landfill sites released 20% of the UK's methane emissions in 2002 [source: UK Gov] For more stats, facts and tips, visit www.recyclenow.com.