When I Recycle I …

Recycling reduces the need for landfills, but it also does much more. By recycling, you are conserving natural resources, such as trees, metal ores, minerals, oil, and water. You are also reducing the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases released into the environment, and you are conserving energy. Recycling can be fun and easy, and by recycling, you are helping yourself and your community, and you are setting a good example at the same time.

Here are some facts to consider when you think about what happens when you recycle:

Paper and cardboard

Recycling a four-foot stack of newspapers saves the equivalent of one 40-foot fir tree.

One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.

One ton of recycled paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water.

Making paper from recyled material uses 60% less energy than making virgin paper.

If every household in the U.S. reused a paper bag for one shopping trip, about 60,000 trees would be saved.

Recycling one ton of cardboard saves over nine cubic yards of landfill space.

Every ton of newspaper recycled saves enough energy to power a TV for 31 hours.

Recycling corrugated cardboard cuts the emissions of sulfur dioxide in half and uses about 25% less energy than making cardboard from virgin pulp.

If all morning newspapers read in this country were recycled, 41,000 trees would be saved daily and 6 million tons of waste would never end up in landfills.
Aluminum and Steel

Enough energy is saved by recycling one aluminum can to run a TV set for three hours or to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.

Making cans from recycled aluminum saves 95% of the energy required to produce cans from virgin material.

Recycling a soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.

An aluminum can recycled today will be back on the grocery shelf in about 90 days.

Recycled steel is used to make new steel products including packaging, cars, lawnmowers, appliances, and construction materials.

Making new steel products from recycled steel instead of virgin ore reduces water use by 40%, water pollution by 76%, air pollution by 86%, and mining wastes by 97%.

For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,000 pounds of coal and 40 pounds of limestone are preserved.

Enough energy is saved each year by recycling steel to supply the city of Los Angeles with almost a decade worth of electricity.
Glass

Making glass from recycled material uses 50% less energy than making virgin glass.

Recycled glass generates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than making virgin glass.

Glass never wears out - it can be recycled over and over again.

Over 41 billion glass containers are made each year.

Over a ton of resources is saved for every ton of glass recycled - 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.

Producing a ton of glass from 100% raw materials creates 384 pounds of mining waste. Using 50% recycled glass cuts this waste by about 75%.
Plastic

Five recycled soft drink bottles make enough fiberfill for a man's ski jacket. Thirty-six recycled bottles can make one square yard of carpet.

Recycled soda bottles can be spun to make fiber filling for pillows, quilts and jackets.

Five soda bottles yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt.

It takes 25 two-liter bottles to make a sweater.

It takes 35 two-liter bottles to make enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag.

HDPE (detergent bottles, milk jugs, plastic yogurt containers) can be recycled into plastic pipes, plastic lumber, flowerpots, trashcans, or bottles used for non-food applications (for example, soaps).

Motor Oil

Motor oil never wears out; it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.

Certified Used Motor Oil Collection Centers pay 16¢ a gallon for used motor oil.

Motor oil that is poured onto the ground or dumped down a storm drain pollutes groundwater and the Bay.

Used motor oil can be refined into fuel oil. One gallon of oil, when reprocessed, can generate enough energy to meet the electricity needs of your home for half a day.

Green waste

Yard waste is collected and ground up into mulch or composted into useful soil amendments.

Other facts

Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year.

Recycling generates jobs and revenue.

75% of our trash can be recycled.

Oro Loma residents can recycle plastic containers, aluminum and steel cans, glass bottles, newspapers, mixed paper, corrugated cardboard, used motor oil, and yard waste. To find out more about Oro Loma's recycling program, visit http://www.oroloma.org/services/garbage&recycling/ or call (510) 613-8710.