Eye-opening recycling statistics to inspire Recyclemania

Competition is under way for the national Recyclemania campus contest. For inspiration to pitch in and put RU in the running for recycling recognition, consider these factoids, courtesy of the National Recycling Coalition's A Recycling Revolution.

• Americans use more than 80 billion aluminum soda cans every year, and there is no limit to the number of times an aluminum can can be recycled.
• About 1 billion trees worth of paper is thrown away, not recycled, every year in the United States.
• Americans use almost 3 million plastic bottles every hour, most of which are thrown away.
• Each year, the U.S. population discards about 16 billion diapers, nearly 2 billion pens, more than 200 million vehicle tires and enough aluminum to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial air fleet four times over.
• On average, each of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste a day, or almost a ton of trash per person per year.
• A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers to be recycled.

For more on Recyclemania 2013, the Campus Conservation Nationals contest and all of RU’s recycling and sustainability activities, visit the RU Green website.