*Source: The Steel Alliance

Steel Facts*
The overall steel recycling rate is a very impressive 83%.

During the last 10 years, more than one trillion pounds of steel scrap have been recycled.

Recycling steel annually saves enough energy to power approximately 18 million North American households for one year.

Eighty-one percent of all obsolete appliances end up in recycling facilities.

The steel used in new appliances is made with approximately 28 percent recycled steel

Twenty-five percent of the steel used in cars and their internal parts is recycled steel. It is as strong or stronger than the steel from which it has been recycled. The nearly 13.5 million cars recycled in 1999 would yield enough steel to produce 48 million steel utility poles-that's one-third of the utility poles in the entire United States.

By 2002, an estimated 25% of all new homes built in the United States will be framed in recycled steel. In 1998, the recycling rate for steel cans was 56%-about 17 billion steel cans. Think of it: that's 545 cans recycled per second, all of which were manufactured into new consumer goods.

Virtually every car taken off the road (nearly 98 out of 100) is recycled for its steel content.

Since 1972, the amount of energy required to produce a ton of steel has been reduced by 34%.

   *Source: American Forest and Paper Association

Paper Facts*
In 2006, the United States recovered 53.4% of all paper used - 53.5 million tons.

The paper recovered for recycling in the past 10 years would fill more than 3.5 square miles of landfill space stacked 50 feet high. More paper is recovered in America for recycling than all other materials combined.

More than one-third of the raw material fiber used by American paper manufacturers comes from recycled paper.

   *Source: The Aluminum Association
   *Source: American Plastics Council 

Aluminum Facts*
Much of aluminum's recycling value comes from the energy saved when making aluminum from recycled material; it requires 95% less energy than making it from primary bauxite ore.

Altogether, aluminum from recycled cans and other products accounts for about 50% of the aluminum industry's raw material metal supply.

Recycling is so efficient that it can take as few as 60 days for an aluminum can to be collected, melted, made into a new can, and awaiting purchase on a supermarket shelf.

Plastic Facts*
In 1998, the amount of post-consumer plastic bottles of all types that were recycled increased to 1.45 billion pounds, a 7% increase -or 89 million additional pounds- over the bottle recycling rate of 1997.

PET bottle recycling increased by more than 9% or 61 million pounds-in 1998, to 710 million pounds. The PET bottle-recycling rate is now 24.4 percent.

Bottles made from HDPE make up the highest number of plastic bottles recycled-nearly 734 million pounds. In 1998, HDPE bottles accounted for more than 50% of all bottle recycling. The HDPE bottle recycling rate is now 25.2%.

PET and HOPE accounted for more than 99% of the 1.45 billion pounds of bottles recycled in 1998. These two resins also accounted for more than 94% of all resins used in the manufacture of plastic bottles that year