Fun Environmental Facts:

Learning more about the impact each of us have upon the environment is the first step towards a healthier earth.  Going green as individuals and as companies can make a big difference in improving our planet. 

• More than 25 billion cartons manufactured in the U.S. are used only once.
  
  
• The amount of water saved by producing recycled paper as compared to virgin paper is 55%.
  
  
• Recycled paper also takes 60-70% less energy to produce than paper from virgin pulp.
  
  
• 120 tons of steel saved if every UK office worker used one less staple a day.
  
  
• 8 billion gallons of gas would be saved if every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person.
  
  
• Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) use 50 to 80% less energy than incandescent  bulbs and last up to 10 times longer
  
  
• Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are durable and last 133 times longer than incandescent bulbs; they can be bought as single bulbs or in clusters.
  
  
• Although 75% of our trash can be recycled, the EPA set a national goal of 25% for 1992.

• Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
  

•  On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 per ton to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 per ton to incinerate it.
  
  
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
  
  
• Each gallon of gas used by a car contributes about 19 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.  For a single car driving 1,000 miles a month, that adds up to 120 tons of CO2 a year.
  
  
• About 110 million Americans live in areas with levels of air pollutants the federal government considers to be harmful.
  
  
• Each year, 1 million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed as the result of eating or being strangled in plastic.
  
  
• Americans throw away about 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year.  Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back nearly 20 times.
  
  
• If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees a year.
  
  
• In 2005, there were 400,246,300,201 (approximately) trees on our globe.
  
  
• Each year, 40 million acres of tropical rainforests--an area larger than the state of California--are destroyed through logging or burning.
  
  
• The typical American home uses about 300 gallons of water in one day.
  
  
• By turning the heat down, Americans could save more than 500,000 barrels of oil each day--that's over 21,000,000 gallons.
  
  
• A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of fresh water.
  
  
• By the year 2000, U.S. businesses needed the equivalent of all the office space in Pittsburgh, PA, to store the paper it uses in just one year.
  
  
• Driving an average of 1,000 miles a month produces about 120 tons of carbon dioxide a year.