The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste.
The U.S. population also discards each year 16,000,000,000 (yes, that's billion) diapers, 1,600,000,000 pens, 2,000,000,000 razor blades, 220,000,000 car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the U.S. commercial air fleet four times over.
If this isn't a harsh reality and a reason to change our ways, we're not sure what is.
More reasons to think about our actions when buying and
throwing away our goods...
On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash,
$50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.
Approximately 60% of our rubbish thrown away today
could be recycled. In 2006, Montanans
only recycled 18% of their waste.
Americans go through 25 billion
plastic bottles every year.
Odd as it seems there are many people who don't
realize that the plastic bottles our water comes in is
made out of oil. This is the same oil that is used
to make gasoline. It's the same oil that is in such
high demand and is not an unlimited resource.
Glass takes up to 4,000 years to decompose
in a landfill yet can be recycled indefinitely.
Close the circle.
Glass is produced from sand, lime and soda and uses
about 40% more power to produce from raw materials
than it does with recycled materials.
Americans throw away enough glass bottles
and jars every two weeks to fillthe 1,350-foot
towers of the former World Trade Center.
Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees,
7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space,
2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity
—enough energy to power the average American
home for five months.
Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the
energy needed to produce new aluminum
from raw materials. Energy saved from recycling
one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of
electricity the average home uses over 10 years.
Americans use 100 million
tin and steel cans everyday.
The 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last
year had a scrap value of more than $600 million.
Each year Americans throw away 25,000,000,000
Styrofoam cups, enough every year to circle
the earth 436 times.
Styrofoam is un-recyclable -- in other words, you can't make it into new Styrofoam (polystyrene). The industry wants you to assume it is - don't BUY it! The main reuse for this item is to be used again as packaging or for inventive individuals who reuse the product in crafts.
Namely, polystyrene is not a recyclable item.
Do your part, try to avoid purchasing the material.
Informational Sources
We have done our best to provide you with accurate information and have collected the majority of our facts from reliable sources such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and MT.gov. Source information is available on our Links/Source page. PLEASE if you have information you would like to share or constructively correct, contact us, we are happy to be accurately informed.
REUSE 
