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KNOW YOUR TRASH FACTS

About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 33%. (Environmental Protection Agency)

More than ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County. (Eco-Cycle)

By recycling more than 57,000 tons of steel cans, we reduce greenhouse gasses equivalent to taking more than 21,000 cars off the road each year. (WM)

Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, and air pollution by 20%. (Environmental Defense Fund)

If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees—or about 26 million trees per year. (California Department of Conservation)

The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year—or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. (Steel Recycling Institute)

The total volume of solid waste produced in the U.S. each year is equal to the weight of more than 5,600 Nimitz Class air craft carriers, 247,000 space shuttles, or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets. (Beck)

An average kitchen-size bag of trash contains enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for more than 24 hours. (Covanta)

The solid waste industry currently produces more than half of America's renewable energy, more than combined energy outputs of the solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and wind power industries. (U.S. DOE, Energy Information Administration)

Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. (Trash to Cash)

Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. (Eco-Cycle)

Glass can be recycled an indefinite number of times and never wears out. (National Recycling Coalition)

Making glass from recycled material cuts related water pollution by 50%. (National Recycling Coalition)

If we put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of average garbage trucks, that line of trucks could cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times. (Beck)

Five PET bottles (plastic soda bottles) yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt, one square food of carpet or enough fiber fill to fill one ski jacket. (National Recycling Coalition)

The average person has the opportunity to recycle more than 25,000 cans in a lifetime. (National Recycling Coalition)

Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12-foot-high wall of paper from New York to Seattle. (National Recycling Coalition)

The average American discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day. (National Recycling Coalition)

Once an aluminum can is recycled, it's back on the grocery shelf as another aluminum can in 60 days. (www.aluminum.org)

Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. (www.aluminum.org)

Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline. (www.aluminum.org)

Enough aluminum cans were recycled last year to fill a hollow Empire State Building 24 times. (www.aluminum.org)

The 62.6 billion cans recycled last year alone would make 171 circles around the earth at its equator. (www.aluminum.org)

Some 119,482 cans are recycled every minute nationwide. (www.aluminum.org)

Over the past 10 years, the number of aluminum cans recycled has doubled. (www.aluminum.org)

More than one million tons of aluminum containers and packaging are thrown away each year. (www.aluminum.org)

Recycling 1 ton of aluminum saves the equivalent in energy of 2,350 gallons of gasoline. This is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by the average home over a period of 10 years. (www.aluminum.org)

By using recycled aluminum instead of virgin ore, aluminum manufactures save enough energy needed to supply electricity to a city the size of Pittsburgh for about six years. (www.aluminum.org)

In 2006, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 357 pounds for each man, woman, and child in the United States. (http://earth911.org)

Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. (http://earth911.org)

By 2012, the paper industry’s goal is to recover 55 percent of all the paper Americans consume for recycling, which is approximately 55 million tons of paper. (http://earth911.org)

More than 37 percent of the fiber used to make new paper products in the United States comes from recycled sources. (http://earth911.org)

86 percent (approximately 254 million) of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs. (http://earth911.org)

Every month, we throw out enough recyclable glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. (www.recycling-revolution.com)

The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials. (www.recycling-revolution.com)

Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall 12 feet high, stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

Recycling one ton of paper saves one acre of trees. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

If all the glass bottles and jars collected through recycling in the U.S. in one year were laid end-to-end, they would reach the Moon and half way back to the Earth. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

The volume of glass recycled by Americans in one year would fill New Jersey's Giants Stadium more than three times. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt bulb for four hours. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

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Research Bulletins

Avian Influenza

NSWMA bulletin on avian influenza (paper detailing managing infected carcasses and other avian-flu related materials, PDF, 413 Kb, October 2006)

Bioreactor Landfills

NSWMA bulletin on bioreactor landfills (paper explaining the potential benefits of liquid addition at landfills as a management technique of promoting rapid waste decomposition, PDF, 301 Kb, October 2003)

Competitive Neutrality

NSWMA bulletin on competitive neutrality (paper explaining how to ensure that when local governments compete with private sector companies in providing solid waste services, they do so on a level playing field, PDF, 118 Kb, March 2001)

Distracted While Driving: Text Messaging

NSWMA bulleting on distracted driving (paper explaining how 20 percent of all injury crashes were related to distracted driving, PDF, 152 Kb, October 2011)

Greenhouse Gas Study

NSWMA greenhouse gas study (study detailing contributions made by solid waste industry to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, PDF, 3.25 Mb, 2006)

Master file of reference to the GHG study (PDF, 133 Kb, February 2006)

Hazardous Waste

NSMWA bulletin on hazardous waste ("Facts on File" document looking at the generation and movement of hazardous wastes, PDF, 168 Kb, May 2004)

NSWMA bulletin on hazardous waste movement (paper that details the interstate movement of hazardous waste from generators to disposal, PDF, 243 Kb, October 2003)

Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management

NSWMA bulletin on integrated municipal solid waste management (a paper that looks at the different disposal methods and their impact on the waste stream, PDF, 35 Kb, October 2005)

Interstate Movement of Solid Waste

NSWMA bulletin on interstate movement of waste (a paper that provides a complete look at interstate data, shows waste is imported and exported into every state but Hawaii, PDF, 1.1 Mb, January 2005 [2004 data])

Just Compensation and Hauler Displacement

NSWMA bulletin on just compensation and hauler displacement (a paper that explains when a local government decides to expand its jurisdiction, often through annexation, and provide solid waste collection and disposal services in place of private sector companies, those companies can be displaced without any compensation for lost business, PDF, 130 Kb, October 2011)

Modern Landfills

NSWMA bulletin on modern landfills (paper that describes the improvements brought to landfilling by modern technology, PDF, 956 Kb, August 2008)

NSWMA Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Facts (paper that answers many frequently asked questions about MSW landfills, PDF, 96 KB, October 2011)

Odor Management

NSWMA bulletin on managing solid waste facilities to prevent odor (a research study on methods to control odors at landfills and transfer stations, PDF, 490 Kb)

Privatization

NSWMA's Privatization Research Bulletin (the document that details the benefits of privatizing solid waste collection and disposal, PDF, March 2011, 1.46 Mb)

Property Values

NSWMA bulletin on the impact of landfills on neighboring residential property values (while the common assumption is that landfills have a negative impact on property values, academic research has shown that the impact is not easily generalized, PDF, 73 Kb)

Recycling

NSWMA bulletin on recycling municipal solid waste ("Facts on File" document that details what we recycle and how we collect and process those recyclables for end markets, PDF, 50 Kb, October 2005)

Rising Prices

NSWMA bulletin on rising costs (a paper that explains how higher fuel, steel and plastic prices have necessitated rising costs for collecting garbage and recyclables, PDF, 208 Kb)

NSWMA bulletin on rising steel costs (while all costs incurred by equipment manufacturers [i.e., labor, health care, workmen's compensation insurance, energy, transportation and raw materials] increased in recent years, this paper focuses on the rising cost of steel, PDF, 596 Kb, November 2004)

Safety

NSWMA bulletin on safety (a paper that details factors leading to accidents in the solid waste industry and makes recommendations for preventing them, PDF, 104 Kb)

Solid Waste Composition

NSWMA bulletin on solid waste ("Facts on File" document that explains how your garbage fits into the larger world of solid waste, PDF, 107 Kb, May 2004)

NSWMA bulletin on municipal solid waste (document that details what's in our garbage, PDF, 95 Kb, October 2011)

Tipping Fees

NSWMA 2005 survey on average landfill tipping fees in the U.S. (a bulletin that includes data back to 1987 and a comparison of landfill and waste-to-energy tipping fees, data was collected through surveys of NSWMA member companies and studies by Chartwell Information, PDF, 92 Kb, March 2005)

Union Issues/Organized Labor

NSWMA bulletin on union issues (a paper that examines union issues and describes their impact on solid waste companies, PDF, 310 Kb)

Value of Residential Trash Collection

NSWMA bulletin on value of solid waste services (a paper that describes the great value provided by solid waste service providers, PDF, 1.4 Mb)