Dozens of Interesting Facts About Recycling for Life

Most of us know that recycling turns a used product into something else or its original form, like some kind of magic with the help of high technology! As a component of the three R’s rule, it helps to minimize the tremendous amount of waste that is hard to control and threatens the planet’s health. Additionally, it’s the best simple, ethical, and helpful thing we can do to fix human-made damage, starting at the individual level! Yet, there is more to the story. Are you wondering what are some little-known facts about recycling and waste management? If you think why recycling important facts have the potential to change our minds, let’s explore!

Recycling and Climate Crisis Connection: More Than You Think

We hear a few things as often as this phrase: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Still, this precious awareness work can be understated. Some say that the cost of recycling and the result are not worth the effort. Better think again! Recycling is the top action, without exception, that we can do individually and socially to prevent environmental and economic crises. The most significant direct benefit of and interesting facts about recycling to avert the climate crisis is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). So, how does recycling decrease greenhouse gas emissions?

This way, we avoid a fundamental problem by minimizing the waste accumulated in landfills, namely, landfill emissions. In addition, instead of a useless field that grows too large and threatens the health of the living things around it, we can use these lands more helpfully. Of course, this part is just the beginning!

Recycling also saves money and natural resources by reducing the energy spent on new products and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy consumed for recycled products is much lower compared to virgin materials. In other words, recycling:

• Reduces the irreversible effects of the climate crisis.
• Improves energy conservation.
• Ensures efficient use of resources.
• Prevents greenhouse gas emissions.

Still, there is more!

A Basis for Sustainable Development

The world is on the verge of a new turning point. As the pandemic has shown, if we continue to produce and consume in this way, what we have experienced for two years will be just the beginning! The mobilization of the whole world to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees until 2050 is based on the circular economy model established on reusing and efficient resource management. The basis of this is, of course, recycling!

Overall, recycling now has more profound and groundbreaking meanings than we’ve been taught since childhood. Although companies stay away from the circular economy in terms of profit maximization and postpone establishing the necessary infrastructure, they overlook a vast thing. The cost of delaying is greater than financing, and this persistence endangered our future. How does? Let’s look at interesting facts about reduce, reuse, and recycle principles and see why we should hurry.

Glass Recycling

• Even recycling a wine bottle saves the equivalent energy of a 100-watt light bulb that operates for 4 hours!
• The average time for glass bottles to decompose is 4000 years. In landfills, the time can be extended. Think before you throw!
• However, more than 28 billion glass bottles and jars go to landfills annually in the United States alone. That’s enough to fill two Empire State Buildings every three weeks!
• Mining and transportation activities for glass production result in 385 pounds of waste per ton of glass. Even if half of the raw materials are replaced with recycled glass, the waste is reduced by more than 80 percent.
• Glass has almost endless recycling potential, with no degradation in quality.

Food Recycling

• Food waste’s carbon footprint is equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of CO2 annually. So, it forms up to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
• The annual value of wasted food is 1 trillion dollars, and its weight is 1.3 billion tons! A large area of China is used to produce not eaten food!
• Reducing food waste through recycling methods like composting and using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides will also decrease significantly.
• According to Project DrawDown, the prevention of food waste is the 3rd most effective solution to the climate crisis.
• 35% of the freshwater resources in the world are used to produce wasted food.

Plastic Recycling

• According to the research of Plastic Europe, the annual production of plastic is 359 million tons, but annual plastic waste is 300 million tons!
• 79% of this plastic waste goes directly to landfills, dumps, and nature. Alongside carbon emissions, it spreads to the oceans via rivers.
• Since plastic is consumed by animals and mixed with water, we see its effects on our foods and are exposed to diseases such as malaria.
• By 2050, oceans will contain more plastic than fish at this speed!
• You can get huge benefits by making oil and building materials from plastic through recycling!

Paper Recycling

• If you recycle a ton of paper, you save 7,000 gallons of water.
• An office worker uses an average of 10,000 sheets of paper per year. The importance of paperless is obvious!
• Every ton of recycled paper saves the lives of 17 mature trees.
• Recycling one ton of paper makes 3.3 cubic yards of landfills unnecessary.
• Nearly 1 billion trees’ worth of paper is thrown away annually.

E-waste Recycling

• 40% of the heavy metals in landfills result from electronic products.
• E-waste only forms 2% of landfills but accounts for 70% of total toxic waste.
• Only about 20% of the e-waste produced annually is recycled.
• If 1 million laptops were recycled, saved energy gave power to around 3600 homes in the United States for a year.
• Several electronic retail stores accept old devices and recycle them regardless of where you purchase them. Just ask!

Evreka Is Here for You

Evreka stands out with its sustainable waste management software to work for a better world by following the trends and needs, especially in recycling. Its success, particularly in the field of e-waste (WEEE), has been confirmed in Singapore. Evreka is responsible for the management of all electronic waste there. Whatever your needs, Evreka is at your service with customizable, end-to-end, and agility-optimized solutions that comply with all legal obligations!

Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) Management and Recycling Centers

Evreka sees waste management as a part of a larger framework with the perspective of sustainable development. Hence, Evreka Crew is at your side in recycling as well as collecting and transporting waste. The MRF Management solution will make your work in recycling centers and waste management facilities easier than ever before!

• You can maximize inbound and outbound control through a mobile app to stop trackability concerns.
• Managers can handle all parts of the process by streamlining the work order and reducing costs, energy, and time.
• Particular actions for various materials, assets, and other resources can be planned with real-time data.