Recycling Plastic

Recycling Facts

All branches of Tesco and Sainsbury's offer a plastic bag recycling service.

Incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates 1 job, landfilling the same amount creates 6 jobs while recycling the same 10,000 tons creates 36 jobs.

Plastic bags and other plastic rubbish thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

The first real recycling program was introduced in New York City in the 1890s.

Since 1950, we have consumed as much as all the generations before us combined.

To create just 1 kilogram of consumer goods, manufacturers create 5 kilograms of waste.

Plastics can take up to 400 years to break down in a landfill.

PET and HDPE plastic bottles are the most common materials handled at facilities recycling plastics.

56% of recycled PET finds a market in the manufacture of carpet and clothing.

29% of recycled HDPE bottles go into making new bottles.

The first plastic, celluloid, was invented in 1869 as a substitute for ivory in billiard balls.

If you lined up all the polystyrene foam cups made in just 1 day they would circle the earth.

In 1 hour we produce enough waste in the UK to fill the Albert Hall.

In 1 day there would be enough waste to fill Trafalgar Square to the top of Nelson’s Column.

In 1 year there would be enough waste to fill dustbins stretching from the Earth to the Moon.

Recycled materials can return to the marketplace in as little as 30 days.

On a Rydon building site where 272 houses were being built approximately the cost of 1 house was saved on recycling alone.

It takes 5 PET bottles to make 1 square foot of polyester carpet, an extra large t-shirt or filling for a ski jacket.

It takes 2 plastic soft drink bottles to make enough polyester fibre for a baseball cap.

Most families throw away about 40 kg plastic a year.

There are about 1,000 milk jugs and other bottles in a recycled plastic park bench.

Oil which is a non-renewable resource is in all plastic items.

Ford motor company indicates that 75% of every vehicle is recyclable.

8,000,000 nappies are thrown away daily in the UK alone and research estimates they could take up to 500 years to decompose.

The largest landfill site in Greater London will be full in less than 5 years.

The energy saved by recycling 1 bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.

Plastics make up 11% by weight of the contents of the average household dustbin.