Recycling Facts

American recycling rates continue on a steady upward path, with the 2007 recycling rate reaching one-third of total generated waste.

Recycling Resources Types of Plastics Recycling Statistics Recycling Pictures and Information

Taken in context, the numbers show that this generation of Americans take recycling seriously. Compare them with the 1985 American population, for example, that recyled approximately ten percent of their generated waste.

On the flip side, the two-thirds of the ever growing piles of trash that end up in landfills constitutes a large amount of trash. There's always room for improvements, with increased recycling rates and a decrease in the total amount of generated trash representing future recycling challenges.

The following set of recycling facts highlight recent recycling accomplishments and setbacks.

Plastics recycling leads the list of setbacks, showing a general recycling lag compared to most other types of recycling.

In 2007, a total of 30.73 tons of plastic waste were generated and 2.09 tons were recovered, or 6.8% of the total. The breakdown according to types of plastics was:

• PET (polyethylene terephthalate): 3.76 tons of waste generated .680 tons recovered or 18.1% of total
• HDPE (high density polyethylene): 5.65 tons of waste generated and .570 tons recovered or 10.1% of total
• PVC (polyvinyl chloride): 1.66 tons of waste generated and no record of recovery
• LDPE/LLDPE (low density polyethylene): 6.4 tons of waste generated and .31 tons recovered or 4.8% of total
• PS (polypropylene): 2,62 tons of waste generated and .020 tons recovered or 0.8% of total
• Other resins 6.07 tons of waste generated and .5 tons recovered or 8.2% of total

Sine 1960, Americans have almost doubled the amount of waste they produce, from about 2.68 pounds/person to about 4.62 pounds/person. Textile waste contributes to that fact, with trash from textiles showing a very big long term jump, from 1.76 million tons in 1960 to 11.92 million tons in 2007.

Recycling accomplishments also need to be noted, starting with the link between recycling and global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the 85 million tons recycled waste documents is equivalent to saving 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the same amount of emissions as that generated by 35 million passenger cars.

Automobile batteries lead the list of recycled products with 99.2% of them recycled.

Paper continues to lead the list of our most thrown away items. Approximately one-third of all our waste is paper. However, newspaper recycling programs continue to be successful, with 77.8% of all the printed newspapers ending up in the recycling bin.

Source: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2007.

© 2006-2009 Patricia A. Michaels