Recycling – 5 Interesting Things you didn’t know

Each and every one of us knows the basics of recycling, what we should and shouldn’t recycle, and where our rubbish goes. We also have a vague idea of the process that occurs when we recycle, but for those of you who think you know it all here are some facts you probably didn’t know.

Did you know that the average person can produce up to four pounds of rubbish each day? This means that the average person created 1.5 tonnes of waste in a year. With these figures in mind if a person were to live for 75 years they would yield more than 110 tonnes of waste in that lifetime. This is one of the reasons as to why we should recycle what we can, when we can.

Did you know that by recycling one aluminium can you could potentially save enough energy to listen to an entire album on your iPod? So by recycling 50 cans you could save enough energy to keep your bedroom lit for a week, or two weeks if you lit your room intermittently. Now that you know how much energy you could be saving, next time you fancy a can of beans or tinned soup you should recycle the can.

Recycling paper is a big concern as it can reduce the risk of greenhouse gases from damaging our atmosphere. Did you know that if every American recycled a tenth of the newspapers that they buy, approximately 25 million trees could be saved each year. That’s 250 million trees within the space of a decade, imagine how many trees would be left untouched if we all recycled a tenth of out newspapers.

You’ve already heard about how much energy can be saved by recycling one single can and how much energy 50 can save but did you know that when recycling an aluminium can you are also saving 95% of the energy used to make the same cans but from a new material? That should be an even greater motivation when it comes to recycling.

Cars are an excellent method of transport but they aren’t all that ecologically friendly due to the emissions that they produce and the fossil fuels that are consumed by them in order for them to work. However, one of their redeeming qualities is that up to 80% of most cars can be recycled. So although cars contribute greatly to the volume of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, when they stop working they also contribute to reducing the amount of energy used through the fact that they are widely recyclable.

If you’re interested in how else recycling can benefit the environment and ways in which you can contribute you could get in touch with your local city council for advice. There is also information on recycling schemes at town halls but for the best advice on metal and how to go about recycling it get in touch with us at Taroni Metal.