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Climate Change: Recycling Matters More Than you Think Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) & Climate Change • GHGs recognized as contributing to climate change • CO2 (carbon dioxide) & CH4 (methane) among most common GHGs • Methane > 20x more potent GHG than CO2 • Methane coming from garbage in landfills = ~ 3% GHG emissions/year in U.S. © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 2 Recycling Impacts • Natural resource conservation • Energy conservation • Pollution prevention • Saves landfill space Avoided greenhouse gas emissions © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 3 What’s the Link? Energy & GHG emission savings from reduced: • Extraction • Manufacturing • Combustion • Landfilling © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 4 When You Use Less Energy Produce fewer GHG emissions © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 5 What’s the Impact of Recycling? • • • In 2006, U.S. recycled 32.5 % of its trash Avoided emissions of 55 million tons of CO2 equivalent Saved 1.3 quadrillion BTUs = ~10% of U.S. residential energy consumption - ~50 power plants that we didn’t have to build & that’s in one year. © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 6 Your Garbage Trash – 4.6 pounds per person per day Recycling – 1.5 pounds per person per day A Landfill Baled Aluminum Cans Ready for Recycling © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 7 Recycled Content Saves Energy Recycled aluminum - 95% less energy than “new” aluminum Recycled plastic - 66% less energy than “new” plastic Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to use a CFL bulb for 13 hours © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 8 Recycling Saves Energy Average Family Recycles Each Year BTU Energy Saved = Gallons of Gasoline Newspaper - 187 pounds 26 gallons gasoline Aluminum - 150 6-packs 22 gallons gasoline Steel cans – 210 cans 4 gallons gasoline Plastic bottles (PET) – 240 bottles 4 gallons gasoline Glass bottles – 113 bottles 1 gallon gasoline Total savings 57 gallons gasoline © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 9 Recycling Avoids GHG Emissions Average Family Recycles Each Year GHG Avoided Newspaper - 187 pounds 529 pounds CO2 equivalent Aluminum - 150 6-packs 429 pounds CO2 equivalent Steel cans – 210 cans 33 pounds CO2 equivalent Plastic bottles (PET) – 240 bottles 44 pounds CO2 equivalent Glass bottles – 113 bottles Total savings 5 pounds CO2 equivalent 1,040 pounds CO2 equivalent © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 10 When you Throw Away Less Garbage Produce less methane Landfills last longer Minimize need for new incinerators/landfills Create jobs © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 11 Additional Benefit of Recycling – It makes economic sense! Recycling Creates Jobs • Sorting & processing recyclables sustains 10X more jobs than landfilling or incineration. • Making new products with recycled content sustains an additional 12X jobs as disposal. © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 13 Recycling Pays Recyclables have value. Your Community or Business may be PAID for • • • • Aluminum cans Paper Plastic bottles And more! . . . And trash costs money! © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 14 Tools NERC Environmental Benefits Calculator www.nerc.org/documents/environmental_benefits_calc ulator.html EPA Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/ccpct/eebc/eebc.html • Environmental Defense Paper Calculator http://www.edf.org/papercalculator/index.cfm?tagID= 1654 • © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 15 Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. Email: [email protected] www.nerc.org Phone: 802-254-3636 Fax: 802-254-5870 NERC is an equal opportunity employer & provider © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. 2008 16