5 Recycling Facts

Earth911 posted some “scary” recycling facts just in time for Halloween. Here are a few of the scariest ones:

1. Each year, Americans use enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times.
2. Approximately 89 billion plastic bags are used each year. Only 13 percent of those are recycled…
3. Only half the American population is serviced by curbside recycling. In the South, it’s only 30 percent.
4. Due to combined sewer systems, an estimated 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater end up in our oceans each year.
5. Only 8 percent of discarded cell phones found their way to a recycling facility in 2009.

Related Posts:

• 8 Items You Shouldn’t Recycle
• Minneapolis Law Requires Mandatory Business Recycling
• California Apartment Complexes May Soon Offer Recycling