1. Same stuff, different names…

2.  We throw away stuff  We eat food wrapped up in disposable stuff  We do not regularly use reusable containers  We buy cheaply made items that break quickly  We are slaves to the “latest fashions”  Planned obsolescence  Perceived obsolescence

4.  Food wrappers and containers (plastic, cardboard, glass, aluminum, and worst of all: styrofoam)  Bags and containers (plastic, paper and cardboard)  Packing material (styrofoam, plastic bubble wrap, combo materials, etc)  Old clothes  Electronics  Old cars

8.  Hint: Old dinosaurs

9.  Petroleum  Oil  Black gold  Texas Tea

10. P

11.  700 to 1000 years !!!!  In other words, if DaVinci or Galileo had a plastic bottle to throw away in the 1500’s, and did so……That bottle would still be sitting there intact today.

18.  28 % Organic material (food and yard waste)  26 % Paper products (inc. wood)  14 % Plastic related objects  12 % Various metal products  12 % Miscellaneous and combo products  8 % Glass

19. Pounds per person (USA)

20.  Regional Differences:  There are 726 landfill facilities in the south and 134 in the Northeast  Curbside recycling is in only 30 % of the communities in the south and 85-90 % in the West and Northeast  Is there a relationship there ?

22.  Bacteria in landfills breaks down organic material in landfills and creates Methane gas. Venting is done to release this to alleviate fire potential.  There have been 30 toxic explosions in the USA

23.  Half of the country has less than 10 years left in landfill capacity.

25.  Particulate matter  CO 2  Sulphur oxides

26.  Unfortunately, only 2.5 % of food waste is composted annually.  Americans toss out 1400 calories of food waste per day !  40 % of our food Supply……

27.  42 % of greenhouse gases could be avoided by composting and recycling completely

28.  1. Doubling the current national recycling rate would create 1,000,000 new jobs !

29. Growing in popularity across America… This means everything you buy will be recycled, consumed, composted or reused.

30.  All Consumed  Recycled  Composted (inc. biodegradable items)  Or Reused  PERIOD……Everything !!!!!  The only things you should throw away at school are a core or peel of fruit, kleenex, or the biodegradable stuff from the café.

31.  Making a ton (2000 lbs) of recycled paper saves 17 trees and uses 50 % less water than creating paper from virgin pulp.

32.  Well, we can save 207 million BTU’s by recycling just one ton of aluminum cans. That is the equivalent of 36 barrels of oil, 1685 gallons of gasoline.  A BTU (British Thermal Unit) is approximately the amount of heat needed to boil a pound of water.  Fun fact : Aluminum can be recycled over and over and over and over and over…..  It takes the same amount of energy to recycle 20 aluminum cans as it does to make one new one !

33.  1,000,000 tons of plastic bottles produced in 2006 required the energy equivalent of 50 million barrels of oil.  76 % of those bottles ended up in landfills or the ocean !  It takes thousands of years for one to decompose in a landfill and a year to break up into little harmful pieces in the ocean while floating…  It takes 1500 times the energy to produce a plastic bottle of water than getting it from the tap !

35.  Only 10 % of cell phones retired annually are recycled.

36.  1 million cell phones contain:  35,000 lbs of copper  772 lbs of silver  75 lbs of gold  33 lbs of palladium

37.  If we recycled ALL the cell phones retired each year, we would save enough energy to power 18,000 homes for a YEAR !

38.  82 % of the 2.25 million tons of electronics (TV’s, computers, washers, dryers, fridges, etc) retired annually get tossed into the landfills instead of being recycled!

39.  Of the 40 million computers retired in 2007 (double the number from 10 years previously), 66 % of them still work ! That is planned obsolescence !!!

40.  Definition: What can be broken down by biological processes is biodegradable.  What is BD ? = Animal and plant based products  What is not BD ? = Plastic, metal, styrofoam, or any molecular chain derivative not found in nature.

41.  1. Average American office worker throws away 500 cups (coffee/tea) per year

42.  2. Americans throw away enough plastic utensils annually to circle the equator ten times…

43.  3. In Ireland, people throw away 27 plastic bags a year. England residents toss 220 of those babies into the landfill…

44.  4. We throw away enough Christmas cards each years to fill the Rose Bowl !

45.  5. 38,000 miles of ribbon is tossed each year. Enough to tie a bow around the earth !

46.  6. Between Thanksgiving and New Years, an EXTRA MILLION tons of waste are generated in America. ***That’s 2,000,000,000 pounds folks. In 6 weeks !

47.  7. 300 million tires are discarded annually, and 130 million of those are burned as fuel. Any chance that is good for the air quality ???

48.  8. Less than 1 % of the plastic bags are recycled each year.  Why ? Not enough profit. Recycling one ton of them costs $ 4,000. The recycled product can be sold for $32….

49.  9. Airlines and Airports put out a tremendous amount of waste. Unfortunately, they only recycle 20 % of their recyclable goods.

50.  10. The average American uses the equivalent of one 100 foot Douglas Fir tree each year for their paper and wood related products ! USE Recycled paper products !!!