Sometimes I wonder if everyone understands completely what recycling can do for sustainability. Check out this photo I found on NewsCom:
Bales of crushed aluminum cans ready for recycling at the Novelis plant in Oswego, NY. Each bale contains approximately 34,000 used beverage cans.
(PRNewsFoto/Novelis Inc.) Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
That led me to try and find out what if EVERYONE recycled their aluminum cans?
Thankfully, Novelis Recycling provides a ‘recycling calculator‘ to find stats about just that.
Assuming 100 people lived in your neighborhood, this is what the calculator says:
(These statistics are based on US data, assuming 100% recycling rate.)
Total Cans Recycled: 29,900
Total Weight Recycled: 874 LBS
Amount of Greenhouse Gases (C02e) Saved vs Using New Aluminum: 4 Metric Tons
Energy Saved: 56 MBTUs
Barrels of Oil with Equivalent Energy: 10 Barrels
Equivalent GHG Emissions from Cars Not Driven in One Year: 1 Car(s)
Length of Cans if Stacked End to End: 2 Miles
Value of Aluminum: $656
Water Saved: 2 Cubic Meters
Use the calculator to see what if everyone in NYC recycled all their aluminum cans? (Population: 18,800,000)
When can we start?
Tags: Environment, Recycling
Tags: Environment, Recycling