Recycling

I have recycled literally tons of glass, aluminum and cardboard at past jobs. I saved aluminum cans when I was a kid and turned them in for money at a local recycling center. I currently recycle at home as well. I need to be more vigilant about this at my current jobs and when I am traveling though. Today I want to share some recycling statistics and the website I found them at. These statistics are from http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Recycling_Statistics There is a lot more statistics on their site and good information too.

-Over 200 million gallons of used motor oil is disposed of into the environment. Most of the oil is poured down the drain, onto the ground, or just tossed in the garbage. It only takes one gallon of motor oil to contaminate one million gallons of drinking water.
-Producing cars from recycled aluminum decreases air pollution by 95 percent.
-Producing recycled paper produces 74 percent less air pollution, 35 percent less water pollution and uses 64 percent less energy than making paper from logs. A ton of paper made from recycled materials can save a total of over 500 pounds of air pollution

-Aluminum from recycled materials saves 95 percent of the energy
-Steel from recycled steel saves 60 percent of the energy
-Newspapers from recycled paper save 40 percent of the energy
-Plastics from recycled plastic save 70 percent of the energy
-Glass from recycled glass saves 40 percent of the energySome other interesting information I found on the US Environmental Protection Agency website is a little startling yet encouraging. For an agency that is 40 years old this year and with one of it's primary focuses on safeguarding the natural environment, I found it surprising that in 2006 the agency wide recycling rate was only 39%. It was very encouraging that the rate rose to 51% in 2009 though. I also subscribed to their monthly newsletter while I was on the site this morning.