Factsheet

Some interesting waste, reuse, and recycling facts:

•  Each year, 200 million tons of waste is disposed of in the U.S. —about an 85% annual increase since 1960.

•  The U.S. makes up 5% of the world's population, but contributes 50% of the world's landfill waste.

•  Only 20 to 30 percent of the C&D waste generated in 1996 (the last year for which comprehensive statistics are available) was recovered for processing and recycling.

•  About half of the nation's paper, three-quarters of the glass, and nearly half of the aluminum are used solely to wrap and decorate consumer products.

•  The United States goes through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

•  Americans throw away enough used motor oil every year to fill 120 supertankers. If all the used motor oil in the U.S. were recycled, it would result in a savings of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day.

•  If trends in consumption continue, the world will need twice the raw materials by 2010 than it did in 2004.

•  Building demolitions account for 65 million tons per year; renovations account for 60 million tons per year; and new construction accounts for 11 million tons per year.

•  We throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to continuously supply all our nation's automakers.

•  76% of Americans consider themselves environmentalists.