2. upcycling – the process of
converting waste materials or
useless products into new
materials or products of better
quality or a higher
environmental value.
upcycled gifts
3. upcycled gifts
Each day Americans
produce enough trash to
equal the weight of the
Empire State Building
in New York City.
4. upcycled gifts
2,657,200,000 pounds
of trash EVERY YEAR
51,100,000 pounds
of trash EVERY WEEK
7,300,000 pounds
of trash EVERY DAY
5. If everyone lived like us–
we would need
4 more Earths to provide
enough resources.
upcycled gifts
10. upcycled gifts
•Americans use 2,500,000
plastic bottles every hour.
•Americans purchase an
impressive 29 billion bottles
every year.
•Making the plastic for those
bottles uses 17 million barrels
of crude oil annually.
•That is enough fuel to keep 1
million vehicles on the road for
12 months.
•If you were to fill one quarter
of a plastic water bottle with oil,
you would be looking at
roughly the amount used to
produce that bottle.
12. upcycled gifts
•A modern glass bottle would
take 4000 years or more to
decompose -- and even
longer if it's in the landfill.
•More than 28 billion glass
bottles and jars end up in
landfills every year -- that is
the equivalent of filling up two
Empire State Buildings every
three weeks.
•Glass can be recycled and
re-manufactured an infinite
amount of times and never
wear out.
14. upcycled gifts
•The U.S. goes through 100
billion plastic shopping bags
annually.
•Plastic bags are made of
polyethylene which is a
petroleum product.
•It takes 1000 years for
polyethylene bags to break
down.
•Every time a plastic is
recycled, it loses strength and
is downgraded.
•Plastic bags and other plastic
garbage thrown into the ocean
kill as many as 1,000,000 sea
creatures every year.
16. upcycled gifts
•Americans throw away enough
office paper each year to build
a 12 foot high wall from Virginia
Beach to the Pacific Ocean
•It takes one 15 year old tree to
make 700 paper grocery bags.
•Recycling a stack of papers
just 3 feet high saves one tree.
•The amount of wood and
paper we throw away each
year is enough to heat
50,000,000 homes for 20
years.
•If every American recycled just
one-tenth of their newspapers,
we could save about 25 million
trees each year.
18. upcycled gifts
•The gift card is the #1 most-requested
gift (clothing is #2)
•There’s approximately $30
billion in unused gift cards
•The average household sits
on $300 in unused gift cards
•A whopping 75 million
pounds of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC a toxic substance)
material from plastic cards
enters America's waste
stream every year.
20. upcycled gifts
•Every three months,
Americans throw enough
aluminum in the landfills to
build our nation’s entire
commercial air fleet.
•The average person has the
opportunity to recycle more
than 25,000 cans in a
lifetime.
•The 36 billion aluminum
cans landfilled last year had
a scrap value of more than
$600 million. Over the past
twenty years we've
discarded over $12 billion
worth in today's market.
The average grave site is 4’x12’ or 48 square feet.
The equivalent of 52,800 square feet.
Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour.
Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year.
Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually.
That is equivalent to the fuel needed to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months.
If you were to fill one quarter of a plastic water bottle with oil, you would be looking at roughly the amount used to produce that bottle.
Bottled water can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, which is brought right to your home for pennies a gallon.
Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
Five plastic bottles (PET) recycled provides enough fiber to create one square feet of carpet or enough fiber fill to fill one ski jacket.
Recycling one ton of plastic bottles saves the equivalent energy usage of a two person household for one year.
A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose -- and even longer if it's in the landfill.
More than 28 billion glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year -- that is the equivalent of filling up two Empire State Buildings every three weeks.
Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
Glass can be recycled and re-manufactured an infinite amount of times and never wear out.
Recycling just one glass jar saves enough electricity to light an 11 watt CFL bulb for 20 hours.
The U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
Plastic bags are made of polyethylene which is a petroleum product. Production contributes to air pollution and energy consumption.
It takes 1000 years for polyethylene bags to break down.
Plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource.
Every time a plastic is recycled, it loses strength and is downgraded.
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12 foot high wall from Virginia Beach to the Pacific Ocean.(a new wall every year).
It takes one 15 year old tree to make 700 paper grocery bags.
Recycling a stack of newspaper just 3 feet high saves one tree.
The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees each year.
It takes 500,00 trees to publish the Sunday edition of our newspapers. Recycling a single Sunday’s worth of the paper could save 75,000 trees.
Every year nearly 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
More than 37% of the fiber used to make new paper products in the U.S. comes from recycled sources.
Making paper from recycled paper reduces the related contribution to air pollution 95%.
The gift card is the #1 most-requested gift (clothing is #2)
There’s approximately $30 billion in unused gift cards
The average household sits on $300 in unused gift cards
Just 100 gift cards weighs 1 pound 1.75 ounces
A whopping 75 million pounds of polyvinyl chloride (PVC a toxic substance) material from plastic cards enters America's waste stream every year.
Every three months, Americans throw enough aluminum in the landfills to build our nation’s entire commercial air fleet.
An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!
We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year.
The average person has the opportunity to recycle more than 25,000 cans in a lifetime.
Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours.
The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that the 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million. Over the past twenty years we've worth over $12 billion on today's market. Some day we may be mining our landfills for the resources we've buried.
It requires 95% less energy and water to recycle a can than it does to create a can from virgin materials.
A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days.