Creating a smarter planet should be everyone’s goal

Recycling by the numbers

Trees

544,000 trees saved if every household in North America replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper-towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones.

Electronics

20 million tons of electric waste thrown away every year. one ton of scrap from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tons of gold ore.

CO2

350 kg amount of CO2 not released into the atmosphere each time a metric ton of glass is used to create new glass products.

Industry

160 billion dollars is the value of the global recycling industry that employs over 1.5 million people.

Energy

5% the fraction of energy it takes to recycle aluminum versus Mining and refining new aluminum.

Cardboard

9 cubic yards the amount of landfill space saved by recycling 1 ton of cardboard.

Top 10 reasons to recycle

1. It’s good for our economy
   Canadian companies rely on recycling programs to provide raw materials for new products.
2. It creates jobs
   Recycling in Canada is a 6 billion dollar industry. More than 56,000 Recycling and reuse entities employ 1.1 million workers Nationwide.
3. It reduces waste
   The average Canadian discard 777 kilograms of garbage each year. Most of this garbage goes to landfills where it is compacted and buried.
4. It’s good for the environment
   Recycling requires far less energy, fewer natural resources, and keeps waste from piling up in landfills.
5. It saves energy
   Recycling offers significant Energy savings over manufacturing with virgin materials.
6. It preserves landfill space
   No one wants to live next to a landfill. Recycling preserves existing landfill space.
7. It prevents global warming
   In the year 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of 3.9 million metric tons of carbon into the air.
8. It reduces water pollution
   Making goods from recycled materials generate significantly less water pollution than manufacturing with virgin materials.
9. It protects the wildlife
   Using recycling materials reduces the need to damage forests, rivers and other habitats.
10. It creates new demand
    Recycling and buying recycled products creates demand for more recycled products, decreasing waste and helping our economy.

One of the three R’s of green living is “reuse”

If we want to save our precious natural resources, we need to make reusing a lifestyle choice.