Benefits of Recycling

By recycling, Americans are reducing energy and water usage, lowering pollution, improving air and water quality and strengthening the economy. They are also helping to preserve landfill space and save natural resources for future generations.

Trash Facts

Austin area citizens generate enough trash to fill the Erwin Special Events Center every four months.

For every $11 Americans spend on food, $1 is for packaging.

Facts About Paper Recycling

Recycling a four-foot stack of newspaper produces as much paper pulp as a 40-foot pine tree.

Manufacturing recycled paper produces 55% less air and water pollution than manufacturing paper from virgin wood.

Recycling your daily newspaper for one year would provide the pulp equivalent of 2/3 acre of commercial forest.

Recycling one ton of newspaper saves 17 pine trees. About 600 pines trees are saved each day by Austin's recycling efforts.

Every day American businesses generate enough paper to circle the Earth twenty times.

Facts About Recycling Aluminum

Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours.

Manufacturing cans from recycled aluminum produces 96% less air & water pollution than manufacturing cans from raw material (bauxite).

Facts About Recycling Steel

If you stacked all the steel cans that were recycled each year, they would reach from here to the moon and back again more than three times.

You could power 18 million American homes with the energy saved by recycling steel each year.

Facts About Recycling Motor Oil

Motor oil does not wear out. It simply gets dirty. It can be re-refined and used again and again.

When used motor oil is poured into the ground, it can seep into the groundwater & contaminate drinking water supplies. A single quart of motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water in our rivers and lakes.