Recycling Facts: 10 facts about recycling you should know

The concept of recycling is gaining more relevance as the day goes by. This is becoming evident with issues of climate change making Newspaper headlines. In case you are wondering what could be going on with planet earth, I have got good news and bad news.  The good news is that the earth is still rotating from the West and moves towards the East, as viewed from the North Star or Polestar Polaris. The not-so-good news is that greenhouse gas emissions and failure to properly recycle, leads to negative environmental impact such as excessive temperature or the much favoured term of ‘Global Warming.’

Why is Recycling Important?

Recycling is a very important subject for individuals and government officials across different countries. There are justifications on the importance of recycling, one of which is that making new products out of recycled materials does reduce the need to consume valuable resources. Also, it is widely believed that recycling also helps to safeguard raw materials and preserve natural habitats for the future.

Recycling is a very good way to give back to Mother Nature. Below are 10 facts on recycling that are worth acknowledging:

1.      Tin Can:  Interestingly, A recycled tin can is capable of saving enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.

2.      Glass Bottle: A second recycling fact is that one recycled glass bottle is capable of saving enough energy to power a computer for approximately 25 minutes.

3.      Plastic: This is quite shocking and takes a bit to comprehend. Do you know it will take about 500 years to fully decompose a plastic blag?

4.      Carrier Bags: This fact is for individuals who love shopping and having them in a variety of carrier bags. Do you know items such as carrier bags and bottles that end up in the sea or an ocean are capable of killing roughly 1,000,000 sea creatures annually? This is not to discourage you from shopping but to help us all be more conscious of the environment.

5.      Petrol: Regardless of your car ownership status this fact is one that will most likely be of interest to you. The amount of petrol that is utilised in manufacturing a plastic bag is capable of driving a car 11 metres.

6.      Orange Peel: Oranges are well known for helping to boost the immune system.  An orange does contain about 130% of vitamin C and 2 percent of Vitamin A. Nonetheless, it does take about six months to decompose an orange peel.

7.      Food: Food is very important as it is a great source of sustenance. It is worth noting that the average person throws away about 74kg of food waste each year. This is about 1,077 banana skins.

8.      Trees: Trees are very important as they provide us with oxygen, store carbon and give life to the world’s wildlife. It takes a 15-year old tree to produce 700 grocery bags.

9.      Paper: We love to put down our creative ideas on our cherished notepads. Do you know that recycling one tonne of paper saves about 17 trees?

10.  Clothing: In the UK, about 1 million tonnes of clothing and other textile are thrown away annually. This is as wide as Canary Wharf and about 3 times taller.