Plastics require 100 to 400 years to break down in a landfill.
Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.
For every 7 trucks needed to deliver paper grocery bags to the store, only 1 is needed to carry the same number of plastic grocery bags.
By using plastic in packaging, American product manufacturers save enough energy each year to power a city of 1 million homes for 3 _ years.
As much as 40% of selected plastic parts from damaged or discarded cars are repaired and reused.
Over 1.5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles were recycled during 1999, accounting for 22% (by weight) of all plastic bottles produced in the U.S.
PET bottles (soda & water) and HDPE bottles (milk, laundry detergent) are the most commonly collected plastic materials in community recycling programs.
95% of all plastic bottles in the U.S. market are manufactured from PET or HDPE. 56% of recycled PET finds a market in the manufacture of fiber (carpet & clothing). 29% of HDPE recycled bottles go into making new bottles and 18% goes into the plastic pipe industry.
Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas.
Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

 

You can view this information and more recycling information at the following website:

http://www.headwatersrecycle.com/why.html

We are going to begin a new blog on our website. Once or Twice a week we begin publishing information about different types of material that can be recycled! Each month we are going to focus on a different type of material. We will be posting this new blog information through 2012. And for February, we are going to focus on plastic.

 

Plastic Recycling Facts

• According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006, that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.
• More than 2.4 billion pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in 2008. Although the amount of plastic bottles recycled in the U.S. has grown every year since 1990, the actual recycling rate remains steady at around 27 percent.
• In 2007, more than 325 million pounds of wide-mouth plastic containers were recovered for recycling. (This included deli containers, yogurt cups, etc.)
• In recent years, the number of U.S. plastics recycling business has nearly tripled. More than 1,600 businesses are involved in recycling post-consumer plastics.
• Plastics in the U.S. are made primarily (70 percent) from domestic natural gas.
• Plastic bags and product wraps (known collectively as “plastic film”) are commonly recycled at the many collection programs offered through major grocery stores.
• Recycling 1 ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.
• During Keep America Beautiful’s 2008 Great American Cleanup, volunteers recovered and recycled 189,000,000 PET (plastic) bottles that littered highways, waterways and parks.

 

Facts About Plastic Bottles

Here are some interesting facts and statistics about plastic bottles:

5.1 billion: Amount, in pounds, of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars available in the U.S. for recycling in 2009.

...

The City of Knoxville, in cooperation with Kroger, Food City, Goodwill, Waste Connections, and Rock-Tenn Recycling, operates 10 recycling centers. The recycling centers are divided into two categories depending on the types and number of materials accepted.

The items listed below are fun facts about what recycling does. As well as I have listed some websites with even more information. Recycling is important for our world. Help each other, and our children, and our childrens children.