|
Tidbits and Facts
Recycling and Environmental
Facts
- In the past 50 years, humans have consumed more resources than in all previous history. U.S. EPA, 2009. Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.
- The way we produce, consume and dispose of our products and our food accounts for 42% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. EPA, 2009. Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices.
- Between 1950 and 2005, worldwide metals production grew sixfold, oil consumption eightfold, and natural gas consumption 14-fold. In total, 60 billion tons of resources are now extracted annually—about 50% more than just 30 years ago. Today the average European uses 43 kilograms of resources daily, and the average American uses 88 kilograms. Worldwatch Institute, 2010. State of the World 2010.
- Between 1970 and 1995, the U.S. represented about one-third of the world’s total material consumption. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes 33% of paper, 25% of oil, 15% of coal, 17% of aluminum, and 15% of copper. U.S. EPA, 2009. Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.
- Nearly three quarters of what we throw away is products, with organic materials (food and yard waste) make up the remaining 25%. EPA, 2009. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2008.
- More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the United States each year, which comes out to 848 pieces per household. The production, distribution and disposal of all that junk mail creates over 51 million metric tons of greenhouses gases annually, the equivalent emissions of more than 9.3 million cars. ForestEthics, 2008. Climate Change Enclosed: Junk Mail’s Impact on Global Warming.
- The U.S. buried or burned more than 166 million tons of resources—paper, plastic, metals, glass and organic materials—in landfills and incinerators in 2008. We recycled and composted only one-third of our discards. U.S. EPA, 2009. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States, Detailed Tables and Figures for 2008.
- An estimated 144 billion beverage containers were landfilled, incinerated or littered in the United States in 2005, approximately two out of every three containers sold. This amounts to 54 billion aluminum cans, 52 billion plastic bottles and jugs, 30 billion glass bottles, and about 10 billion pouches, cartons, and drink boxes. Container Recycling Institute, 2007. Water, Water Everywhere: The growth of non-carbonated beverage containers in the United States.
- Recycling, reuse and remanufacturing account for 3.1 million jobs in the U.S.—one out of every three green jobs. American Solar Energy Society, 2008. Defining, Estimating, and Forecasting the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Industries in the U.S and in Colorado.
- Making copy paper from 100% recycled content fiber instead of 100% virgin forest fibers reduces total energy consumption by 44%, net greenhouse gas emissions by 38%, particulate emissions by 41%, wastewater by 50%, solid waste by 49% and wood use by 100%. Environmental Paper Network, 2007. State of the Paper Industry.
- Between 1990 and 2000, Americans wasted a total of 7.1 million tons of cans, enough to manufacture 316,000 Boeing 737 airplanes or enough to reproduce the world’s entire commercial airfleet 25 times. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have thrown away 910 billion cans worth over $25 billion in current dollars. Container Recycling Institute, 2002. Trashed Cans: The Global Environmental Impacts of Aluminum Can Wasting in America.
- It only takes about 6 weeks total to manufacture, fill, sell, recycle, and then remanufacture an aluminum beverage can. U.S. EPA, 2010. Common Wastes & Materials: Aluminum.
- Methane is 72 times more potent than CO2 over the short term, as measured by the 20-year time horizon. IPCC, 2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.
- The “hole” in the stratospheric ozone layer over the Antarctic – the layer that protects people from harmful ultraviolet radiation – is now the largest it has ever been and is not expected to recover until between 2060 and 2075. United Nations Environment Programme, 2007. Global Environment Outlook 4: Summary for Decision Makers.
- Nearly 80% of the world’s energy comes from oil, coal, or gas. Worldwatch Institute, 2006. Vital Signs 2006-2007
- Half the world’s tropical and temperate forests are now gone. U.S. EPA, 2009. Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.
- 75% of marine fisheries are now overfished or fished to capacity. U.S. EPA, 2009. Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.
- Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety. President’s Cancer Panel, National Cancer Institute, 2010. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now.
- More than 2 million people globally die prematurely every year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution. United Nations Environment Programme, 2007. Global Environment Outlook 4: Summary for Decision Makers.
- Coloradoans recycled 19.6% of our discards in 2008. Excluding scrap metal recycling, our recycling rate drops to 9.3%. We sent 6.8 million tons to landfills for disposal. We generated an average of 8.5 pounds of discarded materials per person per day, far above the national average. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 2010. Annual Municipal Solid Waste Recycling and Diversion Totals.
Download more recycling and other environmental facts.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS |
| Board President |
 |
Allyn Feinberg is a Historic Preservation Planner with a private consulting practice. She is also co-owner of a start-up business to manufacture innovative separation equipment focused on the municipal wastewater treatment for pharmaceutical industries. She is a past member of the Boulder City Council, the Boulder County Recycling and Composting Authority and the Boulder Housing Authority. |
| Board Vice President |
|
Dan Benavidez is a bilingual Colorado native, a marathon running enthusiast and an avid reader. He received a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Northern Colorado on the G.I. Bill. He served on the Longmont City Council and was Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Longmont (and to this day is the only minority ever to do so). He has also served on numerous boards and commissions in Boulder County ranging from mental health to planning and zoning.
Dan was one of the original founders of El Comite, a Latino activist organization. He was one of the first members of LatiNoticias, a Northern Colorado Spanish Language Newspaper. He is presently a member of the Longmont Police Department Strategic Plan. He has been in the field of international business for more than 12 years and has traveled and done business throughout the world. Dan is presently senior vice president of international operations for a Texas-based Alcoholic Beverage Import Company. He conducts the majority of his business in Mexico. |
| Board Secretary |
|
Caron Schwartz Ellis is co-founder, president and "communication maven" of 3D Radio LLC, which developed and is commercializing a patented technology that allows you to manage your radio listening at home and on the go -- letting you listen to what you want, where you want, when you want it. Caron also does contract public relations and technology writing. Boulder residents since 1981, Caron and her husband Mike are avid cyclists and recyclers. They each put many miles on their bikes on the roads and trails in and around Boulder. At home, between recycling, composting and avoiding purchases of overly packaged goods, the two limit their trash to one 32-gallon bag every three or four weeks. |
| Board Treasurer |
 |
David Miller is currently employed as a CPA for Kingsbery Baris Vogel CPAs since 1987. Also has a private practice at home. David moved to Boulder in 1973 and then to Longmont in 1979. He met his wife Lynn Wirsing and her three children in 1987. |
Additional Board Members
|
 |
Steve Bushong lives in Louisville with his wife Katy, their sons Ryan and Jack and their two dogs. Steve moved to Boulder in 1989 to attend law school at the University of Colorado and is currently a partner at the law firm of Porzak Browning & Bushong, where he practices primarily in the area of water rights, the environment and land use. Prior to moving to Colorado, Steve was a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University studying water quality issues. Before that, he obtained a master's degree in limnology/ecology and bachelor's degree in biology at Iowa State University.
|
|
Steve Kaverman comes to the Eco-Cycle Board of Directors from Broomfield. For the last ten years, Steve has been involved in tourism, working as director of operations, development consultant, tour director, guide and instructor for some of the industry’s most unique tour operators, resort companies and training organizations. One area of expertise is rail tours, and Steve has developed and managed private train tours all over North America, visiting its greatest cities, scenic and cultural destinations, and 45 national park sites. He also served as President and CEO of the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce in 2006, and was a Council Member for Broomfield from 2003 to 2007, where he continues to advocate for improving community recycling programs. Steve’s volunteer commitments extend to leading interpretative nature programs, outdoors and in auditoriums for Boulder County Parks and Open Space where he has been a Naturalist since 2002. Steve earned a master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix, a certificate in marketing from the University of Colorado at Denver and a bachelor’s of science from Michigan State University. He lives in Broomfield with his wife Amy and has one son, Evan.
|
 |
Tom McCoy has served on many city boards and commissions, including 22 ½ years on city council and 14 years as Mayor Pro-Tem. He moved to Longmont in 1962 and taught school for 27 years in the St. Vrain Valley School District. He earned his master's from Colorado State University in 1968. Before coming to Longmont, Tom served in the U.S. Army for 2 years. He graduated from Mankato State College in Mankato, Minnesota with a bachelor's degree and taught political science and history in Madera, California for 3 years. He and his wife, Mary, have three adult children who all live in Longmont.
|
 |
Pat Shanks is chair of the PLAN-Boulder County board of directors. He is interested in a broad spectrum of issues related to land use, transportation, conservation and a clean environment. Pat is a resident of Boulder and is a research geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Some of Pat’s current research involves potential toxic elements in the environment, mine drainage issues and harmful effects on ecosystems. |
 |
John Tayer is currently employed as the community relations manager for Roche Colorado Corporation, a pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing facility in Boulder. As the community relations manager, John is responsible for coordinating all of Roche Colorado's philanthropic activities and the company's other public outreach efforts. Prior to his employment at Roche Colorado, John worked for six years in the Boulder City Manager's Office as the intergovernmental affairs director.
|
Why Recycle - Get the true facts about recycling with our "Ten Reasons to Recycle" publication. We also have a fact sheet on the "State of Recycling in Colorado," and a "Why Recycle?" brochure.
Colorado is one of the worst states in the nation in terms of recycling and composting. Learn more about how our efforts are falling well short in the 2008 "State of Garbage in America."
Why Recycle -
Environmental Benefits
The environmental and economic premise of recycling
is sound: re-using natural resources over and over again after
they have been extracted from the earth makes good sense. By conserving
the dwindling supply of these resources and protecting the few
remaining undamaged ecosystems left on the earth, we are preserving
them for future generations. Overall, the processes used to make
consumer goods from recycled material instead of raw resources
is much more energy and water efficient. For example, recycled
paper uses 60-70% less energy than virgin pulp and 55% less water.
Also, making recycled products reduces greenhouse gas emissions
and the need to build landfills.
Consumer products do not benignly arrive on
store shelves with no impacts attached. In fact, making goods
from natural resources can cause great harm. The destructive nature
of mining, logging and drilling in fragile natural habitats to
produce goods that will only be used once and then thrown away
is extremely wasteful. For instance, for every garbage can placed
at the curb, there are 71 cans of waste created in the extractive
and industrial processes used to convert raw materials into finished
products and packaging. Simply put, making paper from paper, cans
from cans and plastic from plastic is infinitely kinder to the
earth than clearcutting a forest in the Pacific Northwest, mining
for bauxite ore in South America or drilling for oil in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
Recycling not only saves precious resources
but also avoids the toxic processes used to turn these resources
into consumer products. For example, producing paper from trees
requires chlorine to remove lignin from wood. This process produces
dioxins, a known carcinogen. On the other hand, recycled paper
already has the lignin removed and only requires using hydrogen
peroxide to remove ink.
Keeping waste out of landfills also makes economic
and environmental sense. One in five Environmental Protection
Agency Superfund cleanup sites is a landfill. Contaminated with
tons of toxic material, these landfills have cost taxpayers millions
of dollars to clean up and monitor, a process that is likely to
continue for many decades into the future. For industry experts,
the question isn't if a landfill will leak toxins, but when. Therefore,
recycling to avoid landfill disposal helps avoid environmental
and public health threats down the road.
Although recycling makes far more sense
from an economic, industrial and environmental perspective, the
extraction industry is heavily subsidized by taxpayers which forces
recycled products to compete on an unlevel playing field in the
marketplace. Because of this recycled products can sometimes cost
more than their virgin counterparts.
Why Recycle - Cost
Savings
An integrated approach to recycling and waste
reduction can provide appreciable cost savings to businesses.
Initial costs to get the service "up and running" will,
in the long run, be offset by reduced trash disposal fees and
less waste creation. Such a visible commitment to the environment
will also result in intangible benefits to employee morale and
your company's public perception.
Start-up costs, which in many cases are covered
by the monthly charge paid to a service provider, can include
the purchase or leasing of recyclables storage containers, container
signage and employee education literature, and the cost of transporting
recyclable materials to an off-site processing facility. These
are the same costs one would expect when contracting for trash
disposal service. Recycling at its simplest is transferring material
out of the waste stream and giving that material new life to be
re-used or re-manufactured into new products. Thus, as the volume
of trash generated decreases, a company's associated cost of disposing
of that trash will also decrease.
Paramount to establishing a successful business
recycling program that maximizes cost efficiencies is active employee
participation. This can benefit your program and bottom line in
two ways: the more your employees both recycle and reduce the
amount of waste they create in the first place, the more your
trash disposal cost will decrease. Integrating recycling and waste
reduction techniques into your daily operating procedures and
the culture of your business will ensure that your employees are
saving the company money while they do the right thing for the
planet. Ongoing employee education becomes the primary vehicle
to ensure the success of your program.
The bottom line: A business recycling and waste
reduction program can be cost effective if it is carefully planned
and coordinated with staff and employees. While this may appear
to be a daunting task, numerous resources exist to assist with
the development of an efficient program with achievable goals.
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQS)
Why can't I recycle all plastics?
Just as with different types of paper, all plastics
could be recycled if there were a market, i.e. a manufacturer
who would use them to make a new product. There are some problems
with plastics recycling that limit the market for some types.
Why do most plastics have a recycling symbol
on them if they can't be recycled?
Good question. The recycling industry has been
butting heads with the plastics industry over this misleading
practice, unfortunately with no results. The symbol is meant to
indicate the type of plastic, not its recyclability.
Are the plastics I bring in REALLY being recycled?
Yes, if you bring us what we ask for. Any non-recyclable
plastic that you leave at the drop-off center will be landfilled
and Eco-Cycle will have to bear the cost of disposing of your
garbage. So, please don't try to "slip it in" on Eco-Cycle.
Please recycle only acceptable plastics through your curbside program or at the drop-off center.
What are the problems with recycling plastics?
When glass, paper and cans are recycled, they
become similar products which can be used and recycled over and
over again.
With plastics recycling, however, there is usually
only a single re-use. Most bottles and jugs don't become food
and beverage containers again. For example, pop bottles might
become carpet or stuffing for sleeping bags. Milk jugs are often
made into plastic lumber, recycling bins, and toys.
A recent development has been the bottles-to-bottles
recycling of "regenerated" pop bottles. Though it is
technologically possible to make a 100% recycled bottle, there
are serious economic questions. Also, some critics claim that
the environmental impact of the regeneration process is quite
high in terms of energy use and hazardous by-products.
Currently only about 3.5% of all plastics generated
is recycled compared to 34% of paper, 22% of glass and 30% of
metals. At this time, plastics recycling only minimally reduces
the amount of virgin resources used to make plastics. Recycling
papers, glass and metal, materials that are easily recycled more
than once, saves far more energy and resources than are saved
with plastics recycling.
Why is each Community's curbside program different?
Curbside recycling pick-ups can be handled in
a variety of ways. In many communities the city has chosen to
make recycling a citywide service available to everyone. They
may do this by contracting with one or more haulers to provide
the pick-up as Boulder has done, or the city itself may provide
this service to everyone as Longmont does.
In other communities curbside recycling pick-up
may be available through independent trash haulers. Many trash
haulers now have a separate fleet of trucks to pick-up recyclables
that are then hauled to a processing facility. In these communities
the service needs to be arranged by each individual resident.
This of course takes both awareness and initiative on the resident's
part.
Because different companies or entities do the
hauling of recyclables, different items get picked up. What they
pick up depends on what their trucks are equipped to handle, what
the processing facility they transport to can handle and how aggressive
they are in their waste reduction efforts.
How can I reduce my Junk Mail?
STOP the
Junk Mail Monster! Take back your mailbox by reducing unwanted mail.
List brokers sell or rent your name to thousands of businesses
each year, resulting in an average of 41 pounds of junk mail
pouring into every American mailbox every year. You can stop
this deluge of waste.
Find more answers to your frequently asked questions here.
Find links and resources for more information about recycling and Zero Waste
|
