Waste Facts

Below are listed some interesting facts and figures relating to waste and recycling.

1. The volume of household waste produced in one hour would fill the Albert Hall.
   
2. The volume of household waste produce in one day would fill Trafalgar Square right to the top of Nelson's Column.
   
3. Producing an aluminium can from recycled material takes one twentieth of the energy needed to produce a can from raw materials. This energy would be enough to operate a television set for three hours.
   
4. The energy recovered from the incineration of two tyres can provide electricity for one household for one day.
   
5. The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100- watt bulb for four hours.
   
6. On average a milk bottle is used twenty times.
   
7. It takes seventeen trees to produce one tonne of virgin paper.
   
8. Over nine million disposable nappies are used in Britain every day, accounting for 4% of household waste.
   
9. A plastic bottle represents the equivalent of 1/7th of a car mile in the terms of energy.
   
10. During the Second World War the railings around many properties and parks were removed and recycled into munitions. Those around St. Paul's Cathedral were believed to have been turned into a tank.
    
11. A spider wastes nothing. Its web contains a protein, so as it climbs back up a strand it eats it, recycling as it goes.
    
12. Three tonnes of municipal solid waste have approximately the same energy value as one tonne of coal.
    
13. A 0.3 litre yoghurt pot contains enough energy to keep a light bulb burning for one hour.
    
14. In a landfill site it may take as long as 20 years for a plastic bag to decompose; 50 years for a tin can; 1,000,000 years for a glass bottle; anddisposable nappies 500 years.
    
15. The U.K. uses about 12 billion cans each year. If placed end to end they would stretch to the moon and back

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