Recycling Facts... did you know?
Making new aluminum cans from recycled cans uses 20 times less energy than making cans from the raw material.
1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 30-watt light bulb for 6 hours.
70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials and think about all the trees that would stay alive.
Aluminium
24 million tonnes of aluminium is produced annually,
51,000 tonnes of which ends up as packaging in the UK.
- If all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins.
- £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year.
- Aluminium cans can be recycled and ready to use in just 6 weeks.
Glass
Each UK family uses an average of 500 glass bottles and jars annually.- The largest glass furnace produces over 1 million glass bottles and jars per day.
- Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used again and again.
- Glass that is thrown away and ends up in landfills will never decompose.
Paper
Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was
made from raw materials.- 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK.
- The average person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers per year.
- It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper.
Plastic
275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that’s
about 15 million bottles per day.- Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.
- The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.
- Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.
Recycling symbols
Click here to see the various recycling symbols used in the United Kingdom