Fun facts:
* A full life accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production and use of products and materials shows that that they represent roughly 35 to 46 percent of the GHG emissions in the U.S.
The National Recycling Coalition estimates that the amount of lost energy from discarding aluminum and steel cans, plastics, and glass containers, newsprint, and corrugated packaging was equivalent to:
• The amount of electricity consumed by 10 million people in the U.S. in one year; or
• The amount of gasoline used in 6.5 million passenger automobiles in one year.
A 10 to 50 percent increase in the amount of cans, bottles, newsprint, and corrugated packaging currently recovered and recycled (or diverted from disposal) would result in:
• New energy savings of between 77,191 and 383 million BTUs (MBTU)s, which in terms of crude oil represents a savings of between $957 million to $4.8 billion;
• 3.9 to 19.3 fewer megatons of waste to landfills; and
• 11.6 to 58 fewer megatons of GHG emissions into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to 44
percent of all the GHG emissions from U.S. landfills.
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