|
RECYCLING FACT SHEET
Public Place Event Recycling (PPER) Program Facts
Community Special Events
|
10 community events participated in the Public Place Event Recycling Program in 2002. |
|
PPER was available throughout Seattle and one event in King County. |
|
More than 25 tons of plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard was recycled. |
|
Recycling messages reached more than 1.5 million people. |
|
Less than 5% of all the material collected in the bins was contaminated with garbage. |
Seahawks Stadium
|
As of November, 35 tons of cardboard has been recycled at the stadium. |
|
More than five tons of plastic bottles have been recycled so far this season. |
|
Seahawks Stadium currently uses more than 80 PPER recycling bins inside the stadium. |
|
Recycling bins are used at each Seattle Seahawks Home Game and for some events in the Stadium Exhibition Center.
|
Recycling in Seattle
|
More than 95 percent of households in the city participate in recycling and more than 80 percent of apartment residents have recycling available at their buildings. |
|
Residents recycled 72,000 tons of material in 2001, but 52,000 tons of recyclable materials were left in the garbage. |
|
The average Seattle household recycles 70 pounds per month. |
|
The average Seattle resident generates 2.6 pounds of waste a day, totaling nearly 950 pounds of waste each year. |
|
Paper represents nearly two-thirds of the recyclables still left in the waste stream, which also includes glass, yard waste and recyclable grocery bags. |
|
Seattle residents participating in the yard waste program composts an average of 80 pounds of yard waste each month. |
Where Does Our Recycling Go?
|
Plastic bottles, tubs, and bags are made into new bottles, fleece clothing, compost bins, carpet, lumber and garden hoses. Five two-liter PET bottles contain enough plastic to make one square foot of carpet. |
|
Newspaper and mixed paper recycled through Seattle's curbside program are made into tissue, paper, newsprint and cereal boxes, phone books and apple trays. |
|
It takes 80 to 100 years for an aluminum can to decompose, but a recycled aluminum can is back in the store as a new can in six weeks. |
Recycling Saves Resources
Recycling one ton of plastic saves:
|
5,774 kWh energy |
|
16.3 barrels (685 gallons) of oil |
|
98 million BTU's of energy |
|
30 cubic yards of landfill space |
The United States goes through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and only a small percentage is recycled. Enough plastic bottles are thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.
Recycling one ton of cardboard saves:
|
390 kWh of energy |
|
barrels (46 gallons) of oil |
|
6.6 million BTU's of energy |
|
6.7 cubic yards of landfill spaces |
|
24% of the total energy needed for virgin cardboard |
Corrugated recycling of cardboard cuts the emissions of sulfur dioxide in half. Recycling of cardboard saves about 1/4 of the energy use to manufacture it. (Source: National Polymers Inc.)
The largest single source of waste paper collected for recycling is corrugated boxes.
Americans throw away enough wood and paper every year to heat five million homes for 200 years.
|
