Information about Plastic Bags

1. Each year more than 380 billion plastic shopping bags are produced just for use in the United States.

2. Less than 35% of these bags are recycled. The rest will be thrown away, either to pollute the landscape on put in landfills.

3. Plastic bags are generally made from polyethylene and will take over 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills. During this time they will emit harmful gases.

4. It’s easy to reduce the use of plastic bag, take a cloth bag or one made from plant-based materials to use each time you go to the store.

5. Chemicals commonly used by the plastic industry [propylene, phenol, ethylene, polystyrene, and benzene] are ranked as the chemicals that generate the most hazardous waste.

6. Countries that have banned or taken action to discourage the use of plastic bags include Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, South Africa and Taiwan. Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, also has banned the bags.

6 Facts about Aluminum

Recycling can be an energy saver. On the surface you may not see a cost savings. It's not as if you will get much money back by recycling aluminum. Most places that will pay for aluminum wants large amounts for a small price. The savings comes from the cost savings from production of the cans.

Here are 6 facts about Aluminum.

1. 100% of the beverage cans are made from Aluminum. The Aluminum can made its first appearance in the United States in 1953. Prior to this most cans were made from tin or steel. Steel cans were first used in the 1800’s.

2. On average each person will use about 390 cans per year.

3. Aluminum cans typically have a recycled aluminum content of about 55%. 63.5 % of aluminum cans are recycled annually. The number of cans recycled are 62.8 billion.

4. Recycling aluminum saves about 95% of the energy it would take to produce aluminum from its original source, bauxite. Recycling 1 can would save enough electricity to run a TV for three hours.

5. The Aluminum recycling process is so efficient that it can take as few as 60 days for a can to be collected, melted down and made into a new can sitting on a grocery store shelf.

6. Anything that is made from aluminum can be made from recycled aluminum.