10 Disturbing Facts On How Much We Waste
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I’m reminded of just how wasteful we are as I’m at a local mall noticing what’s in the full garbage bin. Lots of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard – all recyclable, but carelessly tossed and headed to the landfill. People discard things in the garbage without any consideration or respect for the environment. How wasteful are we? Let me count the ways with 10 alarming facts about how we impact waste:
- Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. They take 400 to 1000 years to degrade.
- About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet the recycling rate is just 33%.
- $1 out of every $10 spent on food goes into packaging and in the US, over 400 billion plastic bags are tossed into the garbage. Plastic bags can take 1000 years to degrade.
- The average student lunch accounts for 67 pounds of packaging and waste per year (that’s 4.6 trillion pounds in the US alone)
- 5 billion drink boxes are thrown away each year in North America
- 2/3 of our household waste can be composted
- 8 out of 10 water bottles end up in a landfill
- The state of Texas could be shrink-wrapped with the amount of plastic film that Americans throw out
- Plastic products contribute 30% of total municipal solid waste
- Recycling one aluminum can save the amount of energy to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours or run a TV for 3 hours. Over 100 billion aluminum cans are consumed in the US annually, only half get recycled.
I didn’t even talk about e-waste. E-waste is electronic waste like TV’s, computers and cell phones. According to the EPA, in the US over 20 million TV’s are trashed every year, over 156 million computers are dumped, and 126 million cell phones don’t get recycled and go to the landfills. E-waste is the fastest growing municipal waste stream in the US. The environment needs you to think twice before you toss it in the garbage - recycle those antiquated or obsolete electronics instead.
The numbers speak for themselves and they are staggering. It’s time to transform our habits. I guess it all comes down to the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Change your behavior with sustainable choices like a reusable bottle or a reusable bag or buy products with less packaging to help reduce unnecessary waste. And if you’re not recycling already – what are you waiting for?
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6 Comments
October 26th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Some startling facts!
1) In the last 3 decades alone, 1/3 of the earth’s natural resources have been consumed!
2) 80% of the earth’s original forests are gone!
3) We would need 5 planets if everyone consumed at present American rates!
All from this great article by Alive.com:
http://www.alive.com/7380a19a2.php?current_topic=33
October 26th, 2009 at 7:41 am
The 10 alarming facts are a reminder on how much we waste and how this affects our environment. As you said, it all comes down to the three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle. Implementing the three R’s helps to protect the environment from damage. The Earth is blessed with a variety of resources, and we need to conserve them for the existence of the entire ecosystem. For instance, water conservation is a must. Water-saving tips can be found at http://j.mp/4sSm6v
October 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Not to mention the amount of foreign oil used to manufacture all the plastic that ends up in our landfills! While many of us are concerned about the environmental impact of plastic, there are still way too many people who just don’t “get it.” Perhaps we need a national campaign that appeals to those people by focusing on moving away from our dependence on foreign oil?
In my business, as a EcoBroker, I’ve learned that I can’t convince people to make eco-friendly changes to their homes unless I focus on the money they’ll save. But, if it achieves the goal, it doesn’t matter how you get there!
November 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
You’re speaking to the choir. A small group of environmentally aware and conscious individuals are doing the majority of the recycling and sustainable living. The message needs to reach those who are doing the consuming yet discarding without a second thought. They don’t really care or think this is a big problem. Studies have shown that the ones with the most stuff and doing the least amount of recycling don’t think they are part of the problem, nor do they think it’s their responsibility to clean things up. Even if a blue bin is hand delivered to their door steps, they are not inclined to change their disposal behavior and won’t adopt recycling based on care for the environment.
So the question remains, how to convince and motivate these individuals to use the recycling options instead of the trash. There are already countless recycling programs available for all sorts of waste from the usual suspects (glass, paper, aluminum) to ones considered “special waste” like solvents, chemicals, tires, CFL bulbs, electronics. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
I don’t know the magic answer. If these individuals don’t care about saving the environment or believe in global warming, would a financial incentive entice them to recycle? In areas where bottle deposits exist, the recycling rate increases. Recycle Bank is a program in select cities that provides redeemable points to households based on the weight of the contents in their recycling bin. Go Green Get Rewards is an online incentive program that rewards green behaviors through similar redeemable points. Several electronic stores take back old electronics then issue store gift cards in the amount of the trade-in value.
The message needs to break out of the green groups and speak the language of the mainstream. Saving the planet may fall on deaf ears but saving their wallets may resonate louder. In the end, any way that makes more people recycle for whatever their personal reason is the end result.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:20 am
Excellent content. Thanks for sharing. I believe the true salvation of our environment is in the eco-education of our children.
And, in the spirit of not wasting, check out my post on reducing waste during the holiday season by exploring reusable and creative gift wrapping options.
http://eco-steps.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-wrap.html
January 17th, 2010 at 4:29 am
we waste ?