Recycling facts and figures
Paper
Recycling one tonne of paper saves enough electricity to run an average three bedroom house for one year!
On average every person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers a year!
A newspaper can be recycled and back in your hands as another newspaper in just seven days.
Food and drink cans
An aluminium can can be recycled and be back on the shelf in just six weeks.
Every day 80 million food and drinks cans end up buried in landfill.
Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for 20 hours!
The cans are taken to steel and aluminium mills where they are melted down and used to make new cans, fridges, car parts, bicycles and even aeroplanes!
Glass bottles
On average, every family in the UK gets through around 330 glass bottles and jars a year.
In 2004/05, Shropshire residents recycled the equivalent of over 5 million wine bottles or over 10 million jam jars!
The energy saving from recycling one bottle will power a colour TV for 20 minutes.
Recycled glass can be used in road construction.
Plastic bottles
Just 25 two-litre plastic bottles can be recycled into a fleece jacket.
Recycled plastic bottles are made into drainage pipes, guttering, and other plastic products
Scrap metal
Metals can be recycled indefinitely without losing any of their properties.
TVs/Monitors
An average TV contains 6 per cent metal and 50 per cent glass.
Batteries
The UK generates 20,000 - 30,000 tonnes of waste batteries every year, but fewer than 1,000 tonnes are recycled.
Garden waste
Garden waste accounts for more than 20% of the UK’s household waste.
Cardboard
Cardboard can be recycled four or five times before it disintegrates.
Clothing and textiles
Over 1 million tonnes of clothing and other textiles are thrown away each year in the UK.
Wood
It is estimated that each year up to 420,000 tonnes of waste wood is produced by households
Fluorescent tubes
The UK discards about 100 million fluorescent tubes each year.
