Recycling is not something you talk about every day but it is something you might do every day. If there is a recycling bin in your home or office, then there is zero effort attached to tossing out a soda can or plastic water bottle into that recycling bin. No one does that for “extra credit.” They do it because they know it’s good for the environment. When the topic of recycling does come up, you can now be armed with these fun trivia facts:

According to surveys, it’s more likely that Americans will recycle then vote. A lot happens when you don’t recycle or vote! For instance, in the US alone nearly 20 billion diapers thrown out each year. That accounts for 3.5 million tons of waste headed to a landfill. When landfills get densely packed, there is degradation amongst the garbage. Essentially, it is all decomposing without a lot of air. When that happens, methane gas is created which in turn contributes to global warming.

When it comes to plastics, only 5% of recyclable plastics are actually recycled in the country. There’s around 2.5 million plastic bottles being tossed in the trash each hour. Every one of those bottles will take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill.

Over the past hundred years, the amount of trash that humans produce has increased by 10,000%. Not all of that trash ends up in the landfill. Right now, there are around 46,000 pieces of plastic floating around in every square mile of our oceans. That leads to over 1 million seabirds dying from ocean pollution each year.

Around this time of year, a lot of e-waste will be created. Overall, around 50 million tons of e-waste he’s generated each year. That would be 50 million tons of computers, cell phones, monitors, keyboards, televisions and printers. That would be equal to lining up garbage trucks halfway around the world. Speaking of going around the world, if you were to line up all the aluminum cans that are recycled each year, they would circle the earth 169 times.

Right now, the recycling rate for the United States hovers around 34%. If it would go up to 75% that would be the equivalent of removing 50 million cars from the highways. That would account for a very significant reduction in carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

If you’re looking for ways to expand your own recycling program, then count on a company like Junk King Boston to get the job done right. These are professional junk haulers who have dedicated themselves to dropping off the bulk of what they collect to recycling centers or charities. If you want to keep your junk out of a landfill, then give it the Junk King Boston today. They’ll know what to do with it.