Here are a few statistic to whet your appetite. There are plenty more throughout the blog.
Our previous work had suggested that bottled water production was an energy-intensive process, but we were surprised to see that the energy equivalent of nearly 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce the PET bottles alone,” Cooley told PhysOrg.com.
From Container Recycling
Around 899 thousand tons of PET plastic bottles were recycled nationwide in 2013, but more than two times as much PET was wasted: 2 million tons.*
*Notes/Calculations:
According to the United Kingdom (UK) Government, in 2008 the total environmental cost of waste sent to landfill and incinerators within the United Kingdom (UK)was £211 million and £125 million, respectively. ( the big green book)
In September last year, England’s household recycling rate stood at 43.9 per cent – a decline from 44.1 per cent in 2012.
And according to Pledge4Plastics, the average UK home uses 440 plastic bottles a year, but recycles just 250 of them.
One in five people admit they don’t recycle fizzy drink or milk bottles, while a quarter don’t put juice or water bottles in the correct bin.
Some 5 billion plastic bottles were sent to UK landfill sites last year.
From Gov.UK 2011
In 2011 the UK disposed of an estimated 10.8 million tonnes of packaging waste, of which around 67% was recovered. In 1998 only 27% of packaging waste was recovered.
2011 recovery and recycling achievement data
| Total packaging waste arising (tonnes) | Total recovered/recyled (tonnes) | EU Target (%) | Recovery/recycling rate (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper | 3,817,860 | 3,232,461 | 60 | 84.8 |
| Paper composting | 6,727 | |||
| Glass | 2,739,989 | 1,751,852 | 60 | 63.9 |
| Aluminium | 160,877 | 73,683 | 45.8 | |
| Steel | 648,740 | 373,714 | 57.6 | |
| Metal | 447,397 | 50 | 55.3 | |
| Plastic | 2,515,809 | 609,910 | 22.5 | 24.2 |
| Wood composting | 442 | |||
| Wood | 1,023,939 | 600,276 | 15 | 58.7 |
| Other | 22,443 | |||
| Total recycling | 6,649,065 | 55 | 60.8 | |
| Energy from Waste | 685,612 | |||
| Total Recovery | 10,929,657 | 6,641,896 | 60.0 | 67.1 |
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