How much landfill space is saved by recycling

Paper can be placed in the small individual office or workstation recycling containers, or in the larger containers found in many common areas, hallways, or lobbies. Here is a list of what can and cannot go into a paper only recycling container.

If you have a large quantity of paper to recycle, you can arrange with your custodial supervisor to have the paper picked up, or contact Pitt Recycling at recycle fm.

We recycle aluminum beverage cans, tin cans, glass bottles and jars, and plastic containers. Do not put bottles or cans in your individual workstation recycling container—those are for paper only.

Also, bottles and cans should be completely emptied before disposing of them. Recycling plastics is easy. Read below what types of plastics can be recycled and only put those types of plastics in the container.

Plastics have different formulations and have to be sorted before they are recycled to make new products. Mixed plastics can be recycled, but they are not as valuable as sorted plastics because the recycled physical properties of the plastic, such as strength, may vary with each batch.

You may leave the paper labels on the container, but throw away the plastic caps. Plastic caps are usually made from a different type of plastic than the container and cannot be easily recycled.

Glass jars and beverage bottles of any color are acceptable for recycling. Please remove any lids from bottles and jars. Window glass or laboratory glass are not acceptable and are handled separately.

If you have a large amount of bottles and cans to recycle, you can arrange with your custodian to have them picked up, or contact Pitt Recycling at recycle fm. If it is possible for you to do so, please crush cardboard boxes.

Most types of cardboard are acceptable, but any cardboard treated with a wax or plastic coating is not acceptable and should be disposed of as trash. If you have a large number of boxes or if you have some boxes that are very heavy, you may arrange with your custodian to have them picked up, or contact Pitt Recycling at recycle fm.

Packing material is currently not recycled by the University. However, there are options for recycling this material through local mailing services. For information please contact you Pitt recycling team.

Electronic Waste is unwanted computers, monitors, televisions, audio equipment, printers, laptops, fax machines, telephones, and other electronic equipment. When electronic equipment breaks or becomes obsolete, it must be properly disposed or recycled. This electronic equipment may contain heavy metals and other materials that can become hazardous to human health and the environment, including:. Our finite reserves of natural resources are being depleted rapidly, particularly with the increasing use of disposable products and packaging.

In , U. This is nearly 1 ton of waste per person per year, or approximately 4. This rate of use and disposal takes a particularly heavy toll on irreplaceable natural resources such as minerals and petroleum.

Reprocessing used materials to make new products and packaging reduces the consumption of natural resources. For instance, every ton of recycled steel saves 2, pounds of iron ore, 1, pounds of coal, and 40 pounds of limestone. Every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, gallons of water, Plastics production also requires significant quantities of resources, primarily fossil fuels, both as a raw material and as a fuel to provide energy for manufacturing processes.

Researchers used the EPA WARM model to calculate how far you can ship goods by truck, rail, and freighter ship before you don't have any energy savings from recycling them. Lets look at a few materials shipped by truck, the least efficient method of transportation.

What does it mean? You can send aluminum around the world four times on a big rig truck and you will still save energy by recycling it. You can't actually do that, since your average big rig can't drive on water, but if you switch to train or freighter ship, the efficiency gets even better. Contact us with your recycling questions and we'll do our best to answer them!

Why Not Recycle?! Office Paper Recycling one ton of office paper saves 17 trees, 7, gallons of water, gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and enough energy to heat an average home for six months trees. Plastic: One ton of recycled plastic saves 5, Kwh of energy, Glass: One ton of recycled glass saves 42 Kwh of energy, 0. Steel One ton of recycled steel saves Kwh of energy, 1. How does Recycling Save Landfill Space? How does Recycling Save Resources? One ton of paper recycle saves 17 trees [ EPA ].

One ton of plastic saves One ton of aluminum saves 4 tons of Bauxite Ore [ MadeHow. One ton of glass saves one ton of mixed limestone, soda ash, and sand [ EPA , Stanford]. How does Recycling Save Energy? Glass - 2, miles by truck Plastic 1 PET - 10, miles Newspaper - 21, miles Aluminum - , miles Circumference of the Earth - about 24, miles.

Still have questions? November 08, by Leslie Robinson - Recycle. Single stream recycling bins can contaminate glass products, and reduce glass recycling rates. Separate recycling bins for glass, cans, bottles and aluminum can make separating recyclable materials easier. Here are some other facts about glass recycling:. A typical glass processing facility can recycle 20 tons of color-sorted glass per hour. According to the EPA, in paper had an average recycling rate of With good reason too!

Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7, gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and gallons of oil! Every ton of paper recycled can save the energy equivalent of gallons of gasoline. Burning that same ton of paper would create 15, pounds of carbon dioxide. A paper recycling bin can make it easy to keep paper out of your waste stream.

Increase office recycling rates with a conveniently placed recycling receptacle. Browse our range of outdoor and indoor paper recycling bins here. A significant amount of this cardboard ends up in the solid waste stream. The benefits of recycling corrugated cardboard are clear. Here are some corrugated cardboard recycling facts:. Recycling one ton of cardboard can save the equivalent of 46 gallons of oil. Recycling one ton of corrugated cardboard saves up to gallons of water.

Across the world, landfills are growing at a phenomenal rate. Globally, we produce 1. This figure is projected to rise to an eye-watering 2. Of this, the U. This is filling over 2, landfills around the country. Space is going to run out. In fact, from onwards, recycling rates have dropped.

Recycling is one thing that we can all do to help reduce landfill.