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WHAT CAN YOU
SAVE TODAY?
M T W T F
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
CHALLENGE
The Resource Conservation Challenge
Making the Connection
with Solid Waste Facts
and Figures
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is challenging everyone to rejoin
the fight against waste. We want to help everyone see the connection
between waste, resource and energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and
pollution, so that we will be motivated to recycle more and waste less. Our report,
"Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2000 Facts and Figures" shows
America's current disposal habits. You can see how our purchasing and manufac-
turing decisions are connected to the environment. By understanding those, we
hope you will make smarter choices about products and purchases. When you
do, the result will be less waste, more economic growth, tremendous energy sav-
ings, and more recycling. And, we will meet or beat our 35 percent national recy-
cling goal by 2005.
Connect Waste Reduction to Energy Savings
The extraction and processing of raw materials into manufacturing feedstocks are
some of the most energy-intensive activities of industry. Therefore, reducing or nearly
eliminating the need for these processes helps achieve huge energy savings.
Manufacturing goods from recycled materials typically requires less energy than pro-
ducing them from virgin materials. Recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves 95
percent of the energy required to make the same amount aluminum from its virgin
Recovery Rates for Major MSW Components
100
80
•£ 60
0)
CD 40
0.
20
0
Plastic Soft
Drinks
Containers
Glass
Containers
Tires
Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.
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source, bauxite. The amount of energy
saved differs by material, but almost all
recycling processes achieve significant
energy savings compared to production of
virgin materials.
Waste prevention is even more effective at
saving energy. When we reuse things or
when manufacturers make products with
less material, less energy is needed to
extract, transport, and process raw mate-
rials and to manufacture products. When
demand for energy decreases, fewer fossil
fuels are burned and less carbon dioxide
is emitted into the atmosphere.
2000 Total Waste Generation -1232 Million 1pn|
(before!; recycling) ! I ! i'
Rubber, Leather,
and Textile 6.7%
Metals 7.8%
Plastics 10.7%
Paper 37.4%
Yard Trimmings 12.0%
Food Scraps 11.2%
Connect Waste Reduction to Climate Change
Waste prevention and recycling—jointly referred to as waste reduction—not only help us to
better manage our waste, but they also are potent tools to reduce greenhouse gas0s.
Together, waste prevention and recycling: ;
• Reduce emissions from incinerators. Recycling and waste prevention divert materials
from incinerators, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions from waste combustion.
• Reduce methane emissions from landfills. Waste prevention and recycling (including
composting) divert organic wastes from landfills, reducing the methane released when
waste decomposes. '
• Increase carbon storage in trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
and store it in their wood. Waste prevention and recycling of paper products reduces
the need for virgin wood, so more trees can continue to remove carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere.
Connect the Benefits
To help measure the benefits of waste reduction, we conducted a comprehensive
study of waste management trends in the United States. The study estimated the
greenhouse gas emissions associated with managing 10 types of waste materials:
office paper, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, aluminum, steel, plastic, food scraps,
and yard trimmings. Management options analyzed in the study included waste pre-
vention, recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling. •
Our research indicates that, in terms of climate benefits,
waste prevention—or source reduction—is generally the
best management option. Source reduction, including
material reuse, can help reduce waste disposal and han-
dling costs, because it avoids the costs of recycling,
municipal composting, landfilling, and combustion.
Source reduction also helps to conserve natural
resources; reduce the toxicity of the waste stream iby
encouraging less hazardous alternatives for certain items
(such as cleaning products and pesticides); and reduce
waste disposal and creating excess packaging.
More than 5,400 BTUs of
energy are conserved for
every pound at steel recycled.
The steel industry's annual
recycling saves the equivalent
energy to electrically power
about 18 million households
for a year.
the costs associated with
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Textiles
Generation: An estimate 9.4 million tons
of textiles were generated in 2000.
Percent: Textiles made up 4 percent of
the MSW stream in 2000.
Recovery: About 13.5 percent of textiles
in clothing and in items such as sheets
and pillowcases was recovered from the
MSW stream, mostly for reuse.
What Your Office Can Do:
By recycling all of its paper, plastic, and corru-
gated waste generated in a year, an office build-
ing of 7,000 workers could reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 1,200 metric tons of carbon
equivalent, the basic unit for measuring green-
house gases. This is equivalent to taking 900
cars off the road in one year.
Textiles in MSW are found mainly in discarded clothing, although other sources include
furniture, carpets, tires, foot wear, and other nondurable goods like sheets and towels.
Tires
• Generation: Approximately 4.7 million tons of scrap rubber tires were generated
in 2000.
• Percent: Tires made up about 2 percent of the MSW stream in 2000.
• Recovery: In 2000, nearly 26 percent of scrap tires was recycled, excluding
retreads and tires combusted for energy.
In 1990, scrap tires were recycled at a rate of less than 10 percent.,Now, more than
twice that is recycled. Forty-eight states have regulated scrap tire management, up
from a handful 10 years ago.
Wood
• Generation: A total of 12.7 million tons of wood were generated in MSW in 2000.
• Percent: Wood materials constituted 5.5 percent of the MSW stream in 2000.
• Recovery: Wood pallet recovery for recycling (usually by chipping for uses such as
mulch or bedding material, and excluding wood combusted as fuel) was estimat-
ed at 480,000 tons in 2000.
The sources of wood in municipal solid waste include furniture; other durable goods,
such as cabinets for electronic equipment; wood packaging, such as crates and pal-
lets; and other miscellaneous products.
Yard Trimmings
• Generation: Approximately 27.7 million tons of yard trimmings (including grass,
leaves, tree, and brush trimmings) were generated in 2000.
• Percent: Yard trimmings made up nearly 12 percent of the MSW stream in 2000.
• Recovery: In 2000, nearly 57 percent of yard trimmings was composted—almost
double the amount recovered only 5 years earlier. Communities sponsored 3,800
yard trimming recovery programs in 2000.
Legislation banning the disposal of yard waste in landfills enacted in 23 states and the
District of Columbia by 1997 has increased yard waste composting. Backyard com-
posting and grasscycling also have increased. Generation and recovery numbers for
yard waste do not include backyard compost or grass clippings left on the lawn.
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• Recovery: In 2000, approximately 2.6 percent of food scraps was composted.
Food scraps included here consist of uneaten foods and food preparation waste from
homes; commercial establishments, such as restaurants; institutional sources, such as
school cafeterias; and industrial sources, such as factory lunchrooms.
Recycling one glass
battle saves enough
electricity to light a
100-watt bulb for
four hours.
Glass Containers
• Generation: Approximately 12.8 million tons of glass were gen-
erated in MSW in 2000. Food and beverage containers made
up nearly 88 percent of this amount; the remainder came from
products such as cookware and glassware, home furnishings,
and plate glass.
• Percent: Glass constituted 5.5 percent of MSW generated in 2000, the same
percentage as in 1999. I
• Recovery: About 26 percent of all glass food and beverage containers wab
recycled in 2000. Glass had an overall recovery rate of 23 percent in 2000.
Most of the glass recovered in the United States is used to make new glass containers.
A portion also is used in fiberglass insulation and "glassphalt" for highway construction.
Paper and Paperboard :
• Generation: More than 86.7 million tons of paper and paperboard were generated
in 2000. ;
• Percent: Paper and paperboard constitute the largest portion of MSW, represent-
ing 37.4 percent of MSW in 2000. :
• Recovery: Paper and paperboard had an overall recycling rate of 45.4 percent in
2000. About 70.7 percent of corrugated boxes, 58.2 percent of newspapers,
19.3 percent of books, 31.9 percent of magazines, and 54.1 percent of office
paper were recycled in 2000. '
Paper production is sensitive to economic conditions—paper gen-
eration declines in recession years. Two examples demonstrate
why this is the case: During a recession, manufacturers use less
corrugated paperboard to ship products as demand tends; to be
lower, and newspapers use less paper as they have fewer adver-
tisement pages.
Recycling one ton of
paper saves 17 trees,
6,953 gallons of water,
and 4,077 kilowatt
hours of energy.
Plastics
Generation: Approximately 24.7 million tons of plastic waste were generated
in 2000.
One passenger tire con-
tains the energy value
of 7 gallons of oil.
• Percent: Plastics comprised 10.7 percent of the total MSW
stream in 2000.
• Recovery: Recovery of plastic containers and packaging was
9.2 percent in 2000, with PET soft drink bottles being recycled
at a rate of 34.9 percent and HOPE milk and water bottles at a rate of 30.4
percent. Overall recovery of all plastics in MSW occurs at a rate of 5.4 percent.
Plastics are a rapidly growing segment of the MSW stream. Plastic generation
increased ten-fold from 1960 to 2000. Plastics are used to make a variety of durable
and nondurable goods, from appliances and furniture to disposable diapers and trash
bags, as well as a range of container and packaging products. ,
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Recycling is the next best approach. Using information from our research, community
and other solid waste managers can analyze the potential of source reduction and
recycling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They can make the analysis from char-
acteristics of their community's waste stream and the management options available
to them.
Annually, enough
energy is saved by
recycling steel to
supply the city of Los
Angeles with electricity
for almost 10 years.
The energy saved from
recycling one aluminum
can could operate a com-
puter for three hours.
Summary of Generation and Recovery
Rates for Major Materials
Aluminum
• Generation: A total of 3.2 million tons of discarded aluminum
were generated in 2000. Much of this was aluminum contain-
ers and packaging, such as soft drink and beer cans, which contributed nearly
2 million tons to the total.
• Percent: Aluminum made up 1.4 percent of total MSW generated in 2000.
• Recovery: Approximately 54.6 percent of aluminum beverage containers were
recycled in 2000. The overall recycling rate for aluminum packaging, which also
includes foils and other aluminum closures, was 44.6 percent.
Historically, aluminum cans have generated a large percentage
of the revenues for many municipal recycling programs. Manu-
facturers make 99 percent of all beer cans and 97 percent of all
soft drink cans from aluminum, and the average aluminum can
contains 40 percent postconsumer recycled aluminum. Recover-
ing aluminum for recycling also saves money and dramatically
reduces energy consumption—the aluminum can recycling process saves 95 percent
of the energy that is needed to extract bauxite ore to produce aluminum.
Ferrous Metals
• Generation: About 13.5 million tons of ferrous metals (e.g., iron and steel) were
generated in MSW in 2000.
• Percent: Ferrous metals constituted 5.8 percent of the MSW stream in 2000.
• Recovery: Overall, about 34 percent of ferrous metals from durable goods was
recycled in 2000. Approximately 57.2 percent of steel food cans and other steel
cans was recycled.
Most ferrous metals in MSW are found in
durable goods such as appliances, furniture,
and tires. Steel packaging (cans and drums) are
another major source of ferrous metals. Almost
all steel products made in the United States
contain some percentage of recovered steel.
Food Scraps
• Generation: Nearly 26 million tons of food
scraps were generated in 2000.
Definition of Terms
Generation: Refers to the weight of materials
and products as they enter the waste
management stream before materials recov-
ery, combustion, or landfilling takes place.
Recovery: Includes products and yard
trimmings removed from the waste stream
for the purpose of recycling, including
composting.
Percent: Food scraps comprised approxi-
mately 11.2 percent of the MSW stream in 2000.
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For More Information
More information on "Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2000 Facts arid
Figures" is available at www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/index.htm.
We also would like your suggestions on how we can meet the national reduction goal.
Email us at oswchallenge ©epa.gov or write to: ;
U.S. EPA ;
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (5305W)
Washington, DC 20460 [
Attn: RCC !
You can also obtain information by calling the RCRA Call Center at 703 412-9810
or TDD 703 412-3323 (hearing impaired) if you are live within the Washington I
Metropolitan area. Call 800 424-9346 or TDD 800 553-7672, if you are a long-
distance caller.
vvEPA
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(5305W) :
EPA530-F-02-034
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