Recycling Facts And Figures in the UK

Did you know that UK citizens generate up to 200 million tonnes worth of waste every year? Also, they throw away around 20 million bread slices and more than 1 million bananas. These are shocking figures. However, the good thing is that they are slowly adopting the tradition of recycling.

The increasing rates of recycling in the UK are directly proportional to the growing population. Citizens are producing more goods and using natural resources in the process. However, many of these resources get wasted when things are eventually thrown away. There are numerous facts and figures regarding recycling in the UK, and people need to be made aware of the harm they are causing by throwing away natural resources that need to be preserved instead so that future generations can get to enjoy them.

The UK has sent 2.7 million tonnes of waste to China

 

Recycling Facts and Figures

• An average household in the UK generates more than one tonne of waste every year
• Each year, the produced waste increases by around 3%, and although it might not sound significant, in the next quarter of a century, the amount of waste produced will double in quantity
• Every 7 weeks, the average UK citizen discards rubbish that is approximately their body weight
• Each year, UK landfill sites receive 18 million tonnes of waste
• Other countries do more recycling than the UK. Nations such as Germany and Switzerland break down and reuse up to 60% of their waste while their rate stands at 45%

Aluminium/ Tin Cans Recycling Figures and Facts

• Each year in the UK, approximately 24 million tonnes worth of aluminium get produced. Up to 51,000 tonnes end up being used as packaging.
• If the citizens decided to recycle all these cans, the country would require 14 million fewer waste bins
• Aluminium cans can be 100% recycled, and every time a person throws one in the bin, it appears on shelves within the next two months
• Steel cans can also be 100% recycled by turning them into car parts, more steel cans, bicycles and other products that people use on a daily basis
• UK citizens use 12 billion cans every year. If these cans were to be lined up, they would reach the moon and back
• Each day, more than 80 million drinks and food cans end up in landfills in the UK
• Every year, the UK receives 600 aluminium cans per household
• Although the UK recycles up to 60% of their aluminium cans, every year, they send £36 million worth of aluminium
• Aluminium cans are 6 to 20 times more worthy than any other packaging material. Estimates show that there are more than £30 million worth of aluminium cans that are always waiting for collection and recycling at any one given time.
• Making one new can requires the similar amount of energy as it would to recycle 20 drink containers
• If every aluminium drink can in the UK got recycled and laid end to end, they could go around the earth at least 30 times

Paper Recycling Facts

• One tree can produce 230 average sized magazines or newspapers
• Every tonne of recycled paper helps conserve 17 trees, 3 cubic metres of landfill space, 380 gallons worth of oil and 4000 KW of energy
• On a normal Sunday, Britons throw away 90% of their newspapers. This is the same as throwing away 500,000 trees into a landfill
• It only takes a week to transform old books, newspapers and magazines into new ones
• Only 30% of energy is required to recycle paper as compared to producing it from raw materials
• To produce 1 tonne of newspapers, 24 trees are necessary. If no newspapers were recycled, it would translate to cutting down 300 million trees in the UK only.
• Recycled papers emit 73% less air pollution than when using raw materials to make them
• If each person in the UK recycled up to 10% more paper, this would mean that they were saving around 5 million trees every year

Glass Facts

• Every family in the UK uses around 500 glass jars and bottles each year
• You can recycle glass 100% and use it over and over
• Any glass that gets thrown away in the landfill never decomposes

Wasted Resources

• A single recycled tin can could save enough energy to let you keep your TV running for 3 hours
• If people recycled everything they used, they would be able to power their TVs for 5,000 hours
• One recycles plastic bottle can save enough energy to keep a light bulb glowing for 3 hours
• A single recycled glass bottle can create enough energy to run a computer for 25 minutes
• 20,000 tonnes of batteries get sent to landfill every year. However, it takes 50 times more energy to manufacture a battery than you get from it.

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