Green Facts

A few Interesting statistics and facts about recycling:

• In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall.
• Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled.
• The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours.
• 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
• 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
• 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.
• On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.
• As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin could be composted.
• Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.
• 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier.
• If all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins.
• £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year.
• Aluminium cans can be recycled and ready to use in just 6 weeks.
• Each UK family uses an average of 500 glass bottles and jars annually.
• The largest glass furnace produces over 1 million glass bottles and jars per day.
• Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used again and again.
• Glass that is thrown away and ends up in landfills will never decompose.
• On average, each person in the UK uses over 200 kg of paper per year. 66% of this is collected for recycling.
• Over Christmas as much as 83 km2 of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey.
• 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.
• Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.
• 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK.
• The average person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers per year.
• It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper.
• 275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that’s about 15 million bottles per day.
• Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.
• The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.
• Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.
• We use around 12.5 billion steel cans every year, or 600 per household, but nearly 10 billion of these still go to landfill.
• Every steel can is 100% recyclable and can be recycled over and over again.
• Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed for steel made from virgin material.
• 13 billion plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each year.

Outlet has made the promise to make serious inroads in becoming a greener company. Click here to see a few things Outlet already do!