Did You Know?

• The greenhouse benefits from recycling in 2007 in Ulster County is equal to removing 11,104 cars permanently from the road.
  
  
• Enough paper is collected for recycling each year to make a train of box cars 7,600 miles long – this would be equivalent to traveling from New York to Washington state, back to New York, and over half way back to Washington state again (Source: American Forest & Paper Association).
  
  
• Enough aluminum cans were recycled last year to fill a hollow Empire State Building 24 times (Source: Novelis).
  
  
• About 3,500 20 oz. PET soft drink containers could carpet the average living room (15’x 17’). (Source: National Association for PET Container Resources – NAPCOR)
  
  
• Each year, steel recycling saves the energy equivalent to electrically power about one-fifth of the households in the United States (or about 18 million homes) for one year (Source: Steel Recycling Institute).
  
  
• Because recycled glass melts at lower temperatures, furnaces aren’t required to operate at the higher levels needed to melt raw materials which leads to decreased energy consumption and increased energy savings(Source: Glass Packaging Institute).
  
  
• More than 70% of all corrugated boxes are collected for recycling. (Source: American Forest & Paper Association).
  
  
• Over 120,000 aluminum cans are recycled every minute in the United States (Source: Novelis).
  
  
• When you recycle your used paper, paper mills will use it to make new newspaper, notebook paper, paper grocery bags, corrugated boxes, envelopes, magazines, and cartons. Recycled paper is also used to make things you may not have thought of, such as animal bedding, compost, kitty litter, and insulation (Source: American Forest & Paper Association).
  
  
• Recycling a ton of plastic saves the energy equivalent of 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of gasoline.
  (Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources)