Recycling Facts for Kids

Different materials can be recycled, including paper, plastic, glass, metal, textiles and electronic equipment. Here are some recycling facts to pass on to your kids.

Metals

• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.
• We use over 80 BILLION aluminum soda cans every year!
• Americans throw away enough steel every year to build all the new cars made in America.
• Aluminum can be recycled from cans, bicycles, computers, cookware, wires, cars, planes and other sources.

Glass

• Glass recycling is often separated into colors because glass keeps its color after recycling.
• Glass can be recycled over and over and over again.
• Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
• Recycling one glass bottle saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

Plastic

• In the United States alone there are 4 million plastic bottles used every hour.
• Out of 4 million plastic bottles roughly 25 percent of them get recycled.
• Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as ONE MILLION sea creatures each year!

Paper

• Paper is the most common recycled product.
• The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees.
• Paper recycling helps reduce air pollution by 74 percent and 35 percent less water pollution.
• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees, 463 gallons of oil, and saves 5 yards of landfill space.
• If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250 MILLION trees each year!
• Paper is also the cheapest product to recycle because it is so quickly and easily made.
• The average American family wastes 150 pounds of paper a year.