RECYCLING FACTS

• Recycling one aluminum beverage can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours or a tv for 2 hours.
• The aluminum beverage can returns to the grocer's shelf as a new, filled can in as little as 90 days after collection, remelting, rolling, manufacturing and distribution.
• An average of 113,204 aluminum cans are recycled every minute of every day.
• Recycling one ton of aluminum saves 37 barrels of oil.
• Recycling 125 aluminum cans saves enough energy to power one home for 1 day.
• It takes 4 tons of ore to produce one ton of aluminum.

• It takes approximately 1 million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill.
• In the U.S. today, 34% of all glass containers are recycled.
• Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
• Glass never wears out - it can be recycled forever.
• Recycling glass saves 25-32% of the energy used to make glass.
• Glass containers save 9 gallons of fuel (oil) for every ton of glass recycled.

• Americans use over 67,000,000 tons of paper each year, or 600 pounds per person.
• It takes more than 500,000 trees to produce the newspapers Americans read each Sunday, yet only 30% of all newspapers are recycled.
• Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months.
• Producing recycled paper requires about 60% of the energy used to make paper from virgin wood pulp.
• Every day, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million. That's the equivalent of dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week.
• If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10th of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of about 25 million trees a year.
• In the manufacturing process of recycled paper
  • 74% less air pollution is generated
  • 35% less water pollution is generated
  • 58% less water is required
  • 64% less energy is required
• One ton of high-grade recyclable paper can substitute for approximately 3 tons of wood in making new paper products.
• Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.

Plastics require 100 to 400 years to break down in a landfill.
Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.
For every 7 trucks needed to deliver paper grocery bags to the store, only 1 is needed to carry the same number of plastic grocery bags.
By using plastic in packaging, American product manufacturers save enough energy each year to power a city of 1 million homes for 3 _ years.
As much as 40% of selected plastic parts from damaged or discarded cars are repaired and reused.
Over 1.5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles were recycled during 1999, accounting for 22% (by weight) of all plastic bottles produced in the U.S.
PET bottles (soda & water) and HDPE bottles (milk, laundry detergent) are the most commonly collected plastic materials in community recycling programs.
95% of all plastic bottles in the U.S. market are manufactured from PET or HDPE. 56% of recycled PET finds a market in the manufacture of fiber (carpet & clothing). 29% of HDPE recycled bottles go into making new bottles and 18% goes into the plastic pipe industry.
Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas.
Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

• Recycling tin and steel cans saves between 60-74% of the energy used to produce them from raw materials.
• 1 ton of recycled steel saves the energy equivalent of 3.6 barrels of oil, and 1.49 tons of iron ore over the production of new steel.
• Steel cans were recycled at the rate of 58% in 2001.
• The amount of steel recovered through recycled packaging in 2001 (nearly 1.5 million tons) would yield enough steel to build 185,000 steel framed homes.
• In 2001, nearly 2 million tons of steel was recovered from recycled appliances.
• The steel from the more than 39 million appliances recycled last year yielded enough steel to build about 160 stadiums the size of the new Pittsburgh Steelers stadium.
• In 2001, there were 26 cars recycled every minute across the U.S.
• Each year steel recycling saves the energy equivalent to electrically power about 1/5th of the households in the U.S. (or about 18 million homes) for 1 year.
• Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 lbs. of iron ore, 1,400 lbs. of coal and 120 lbs. of limestone.
• Annually, enough energy is saved by recycling steel to supply Los Angeles with electricity for almost 10 years.
• You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make 1 new one.

• Battery acid is recycled by converting it to sodium sulfate for laundry detergent, glass and textile manufacturing.

• The average person throws away 4 pounds of garbage PER DAY.
• Paper is the most common item found in our trash.
• Product packaging accounts for 1/3 of our trash.
• Solid waste disposal is the third largest municipal government expense after police protection and education.
• The nation's annual generation of municipal solid waste rose steadily from 88 million tons in 1960 to 232 million tons in 2002.
• Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 lbs. a year.

Recycling Facts

Almost every bottle and can has the chance for a new life. In California, most of them are also good for cash when you redeem them. If you have any container from the following list, you're set.

• Carbonated Soft Drinks
• Wine Coolers
• Distilled Spirit Coolers
• Beer
• Carbonated and Mineral Water
• Non-carbonated Water
• Sports Drinks
• Coffee and Tea Drinks
• Fruit Drinks
• Fruit Juices packed in containers less than 46 oz.
• Vegetable juice in containers 16 ounces or less.

Weis Recycle Centers Inc
1025 Alhambra Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 456-0852

California Recycling Center
3201 Marysville Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95815
(916) 925-7649

NexCycle/Bel Air Markets
4320 Arden Wy
Sacramento CA, 95864

CR Recycling
1266 Howe Ave
Sacramento CA, 95825
(916) 281-1186

NexCycle/Safeway
3320 Arden Wy
Sacramento CA, 95825

Elder Creek Recycling Center
8780 Elder Creek Rd
Sacramento CA, 95828
(916) 387-9999

Fluorescent Lights and Battery Recycling Locations

• Greenhaven Ace Hardware 388 Florin Rd Sacramento, CA 95831
• Hollywood Hardware 5303 Freeport Blvd Sacramento, CA 95822
• Capitol Ace Hardware 1815 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
• Cook's Ace Hardware 2125 Del Paso Blvd. Sacramento, CA 95815
• Sacramento Natural Food Coop, 1900 Alhambra Blvd Sacramento, CA 95816

Battery Recycling Drop Off Locations

• City Hall, 915 I Street
• Department of Utilities, 1395 35th Avenue
• Belle Cooledge Community Center, 5699 South Land Park Drive
• Clunie Community Center, 601 Alhambra Boulevard
• Coloma Community Center, 4623 T Street
• Ethel MacLeod Hart Multipurpose Senior Center, 915 27th Street
• George Sim Community Center, 6207 Logan Street
• Joe Mims, Jr. Hagginwood Community Center, 3271 Marysville Boulevard
• Johnston Community Center, 231 Eleanor Avenue
• Samuel C. Pannell Meadowview Community Center, 2450 Meadowview Road
• South Natomas Community Center, 2901 Truxel Road
• Oak Park Community Center. 3425 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
• Robertson Community Center, 3525 Norwood Avenue
• Meadowview City Service Complex, 2812 Meadowview Road, Building 1

The disposal services listed above are free to our residential customers and apply only to household batteries and fluorescent lamps that are generated at your residence.