Over 2,000 landfills are currently open in the United States, making our country an uglier place. And although they’re often camouflaged fairly well, the negative issues that accompany landfills remain.

Underneath the makeup that’s been plastered on landfills lay toxins, greenhouse gases, and leachate – all of which present concerning threats to our planet. If we want to leave this planet for our future generations, it’s critical that we have a proactive recycling plan in place – whether that’s in the office, in your community, or in your home.

Click here for our free guide: 6 Steps to Successful Recycling and Waste Reduction 

Because of this, I wanted to focus on some key landfill statistics that will allow you to think differently about the current way our population disposes of its trash and the current problems that lie within its current practices. These 50 landfill facts on trash and recycling will prove the severity of the problems that lie within our current approach to trash.

Recyling Facts

1. Nine-tenths of all solid waste in the United States does not get recycled.

2. Landfills are among the biggest contributors to soil pollution – roughly 80% of the items buried in landfills could be recycled.

3. Although 75% of America’s waste is recyclable, we only recycle around 30% of it. Turns out, there are a few easy steps you can take to start recycling better.

4. A single recycled glass bottle saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. It also creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than would be created when making a new bottle.

5. Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as it takes to burn it.

6. It only takes 5 recycled plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.

7. Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty – and it can be recycled.

8. The U.S. recycling rate is around 32%. If we’re able to get the rate to 75%, the effect will be like removing 50 million passenger cars from U.S. roads.

9. Over 14 million tons of recyclable clothing, shoes, and textiles make their way into landfills each year.

10. The leading cities for recycling in the US are (#1) San Francisco, CA (#2) Boston, MA (#3) Chicago, IL (#4) Denver, CO and (#5) Portland, OR.

11. The leading countries for recycling rates are: (#1) Switzerland [52%] (#2) Australia [49.7%] (#3) Germany [48%] (#4) Netherlands [46%] and (#5) Norway [40%]. The United States comes in around 31.5%.

12. 9 out of 10 people said they would recycle if it were “easier”.

13. Studies indicate that women on average typically express more concern for the environment and are more likely to recycle than men.

14. The United States throws away $11.4 billion worth of recyclable containers and packaging every year.

Plastic Facts

15. In the United States, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour – about 42,000 per minute, or about 695 per second. But there’s an easy way to reduce your plastic use.

16. It takes 450 years for average sized plastic water bottles to fully decompose.

17. The amount of plastic film and wrap produced annually could shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

18. The energy it takes to make 1.5 million tons of plastic could power 250,000 homes.

19. There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.

20. According to a study done by the University of Georgia, 18 billion pounds of plastic trash winds up in our oceans each year. To put that in perspective, it’s enough trash to cover every foot of coastline around the world with five full trash bags of plastic…compounding every year.

21. Plastics make up more than 80% of debris polluting our oceans.

22. Over 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic entanglement and ingestion.

Glass Facts

23. Glass bottles take 4,000 years to decompose.

24. Glass, like aluminum, is infinitely recyclable – without any loss in purity or quality.

25. Glass bottles have been reduced in weight by approximately 40% over the past 30 years.

26. Recycled glass is substituted for up to 95% of raw materials.

27. An estimated 80% of all glass containers recovered for recycling are re-melted in furnaces and used to manufacture new glass containers.  

28. Glass container manufacturers hope to achieve 50 percent recycled content in the manufacture of new glass bottles. This achievement would save enough energy to power 21,978 homes for one year and while removing over 181 tons of waste from landfills monthly.

Aluminum Facts

29. Americans use 80 billion aluminum soda cans each year.

30. In only three months, enough aluminum cans are thrown out in the United States to rebuild all of our commercial air fleets.

31. Aluminum cans make up 1.3% of waste in the United States because they are one of the most recycled items.

32. There is no limit to the number of times you can recycle an aluminum can.

33. After recycling, an aluminum can is usually repurposed within 60 days.

34. Recycling just two aluminum cans save the same amount of energy it takes to power a PC for six hours.

35. You can make 20 new cans from recycled material using the same amount of energy that it takes to make 1 brand new can.

Paper Facts

36. While the United States celebrates the holidays, Americans produce an additional 5 million tons of waste (four million of the 5 million tons consisting of wrapping paper and shopping bags).

37. The majority of the 5.6 million tons of junk mail that Americans receive annually ends up in landfills.

38. The energy used to create and distribute junk mail in the US for one day could heat 250,000 homes.

39. On average, Americans use 700 pounds of paper a year. Each.

40. U.S. businesses use around 21 million tons of paper every year.

41. The United States throws out the amount of office paper it would take to build a 12-foot wall from Los Angeles to New York City (2,794 miles).

42. Americans make nearly 400 billion photocopies a year, which comes out to 750,000 copies every minute.

43. The average office worker in the United States goes through roughly 500 disposable cups annually.

44. Making new paper from recycled materials uses less energy than producing paper from virgin tree products and leaves more trees to absorb excess carbon dioxide.

45. For every 1 ton of paper that’s produced, roughly 390 gallons of oil is used to make it.

46. 1 trillion pages of paper equal 8.5 million acres of trees. That is an area greater than the state of Maryland.

47. 2,000 pounds (or 1 ton) of recycled paper helps to save over 350 gallons of oil, 17 trees, and a large portion of landfill space.

48. A single American consumes roughly seven trees annually in paper and wood products.

49. Of the 62 million newspapers printed daily in the United States, 44 million will be thrown away (roughly 500,000 trees).

50. If 1/10 of all discarded American newspapers were recycled annually, approximately 25 million trees would be saved.

We hope these landfill facts and recycling statistics made you think twice about your trash and consumption habits.

Own a business and looking for affordable waste and recycling solutions to become more sustainable? Head to our business solutions page. And to learn more about Rubicon’s work transforming the entire category of waste and recycling, be sure to download our inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report.

Sources:
https://www.northerncoloradodisposal.com/facts/
https://www.usi.edu/recycle/solid-waste-landfill-facts/
http://list25.com/25-shocking-facts-about-pollution/
http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste
https://www.bc.edu/offices/sustainability.html
http://earth911.com/eco-tech/20-e-waste-facts/
https://www.factretriever.com/recycling-facts