SC225 Unit six Recycling Prof. Maureen Foley AIM: FoleyMaur

Agenda Recycling in the U.S. Large scale recycling -Successes -Failures Recycling in municipalities -Dismantling -Expanding Recycling alternatives Q&A

Recycling in the U.S. How have recycling programs been successful and/or unsuccessful in the United States? Image credit:

United States trash/recycling stats… 251 million – tons of trash in the United States 82 million – tons of materials recycled in the United States 53.4 – percentage of all paper products recycled in the United States 32.5 – percentage of total waste that is recycled in the United States 100 – approximate percentage of increase in total recycling in the United States during the past decade 8,660 – number of curbside recycling programs in the United States in ,875 – number of curbside recycling programs in the United States in – percentage of energy saved by recycling an aluminum can, compared with manufacturing a new one 4.6 – pounds of trash per person per day in the United States (most in the world) 1.5 – pounds of recycled materials per person per day in the United States National Science Education Standards

What conditions need to be met before recycling can work on a large scale? Image credit:

Large scale recycling Separating and collecting (infrastructure) Manufacturing (products with total or partial recycled content) Buying (market and consumer demand)

Recycling in municipalities Why are some municipalities dismantling their recycling programs, while others are expanding theirs?

Recycling alternatives What alternatives to recycling might be successful in the future? “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin