Recycling Today

Recycling one refrigerator saves the energy equivalent of 36 gallons of gasoline.

In the United States alone, over 100,000 aluminum cans are recycled every 60 seconds.

50 years ago, 53 million pounds of aluminum cans were recycled annually. Today, the annual number exceeds 1,600 million pounds.

Approximately 95% of an appliance can be recycled.

When a steel mill uses recycled metal, mining wastes, air pollution, and water pollution are reduced by about 70%.

Recycling is a $117 billion industry employing over 150,000 Americans.

130 million metric tons of scrap metal are recycling annually.

$18 billion worth of scrap commodities were exported in 2017, significantly helping our balance of trade.

Recycled paper accounts for 66% of the paper consumed in the United States.

Recycling one ton of steel conserves 2,500 lbs of iron ore, 1,400 of coal, and 120 lbs of limestone.

The United States processes enough scrap plastic to power 10,000 homes for a year.