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Recycling facts

It's only when you stop and think about how much waste we produce that it really hits home just how important it is to recycle. We need your help to make Walsall a cleaner and greener place to live and work.

But there's more to recycling than just Walsall – by acting locally, we can all play our part in creating real and sustainable global change.

Everyone can help by producing less waste to begin with - follow the 'three Rs' – reduce, re-use, recycle – and think about shopping sustainably.

Cans

In the meantime, here are some fascinating facts to think about:

  • Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year
  • Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television.
  • On average every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks.
  • Every 8 months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England).
  • In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall.
  • Nine out of ten people in England and Wales would recycle more if it was made easier.

Recycling glass, paper and metal – some more facts:

Newspaper

  • The largest glass furnaces produce more than 400 tonnes – that's more than one million bottles and jars - each day!
  • Glass can be recycled again and again without losing its clarity or purity
    source.
  • Milk bottles are reused an average of 13 times before recycling.
  • The energy saving from recycling one bottle will:
    • Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour
    • Power a computer for 25 minutes
    • Power a colour TV for 20 minutes
    • Power a washing machine for 10 minutes
  • On average every person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers a year – that's a lot of news!
  • We use 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard every year in the UK.
  • Over Christmas as much as 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey

Wrapping paper

  • If all the aluminium drinks cans sold in the UK were recycled, there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins per year
  • Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed for steel made from virgin material
  • Every steel can is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled over and over again into products like bicycles and of course new cans