Put together by Ecoforce

• All types of plastic are recyclable.
• Advantages of recycling plastic:
  – Conservation of non-renewable fossil fuel
  – Plastic production uses 8% of the world’s oil production, 4% as feedstock and 4% during manufacture.
  – Reduced consumption of energy.
  – Reduced amounts of solid waste going to landfill.
  – Reduced emissions of carbon-dioxide (CO2), nitrogen-oxide (NO) and sulphur-dioxide (SO2).
• The world’s annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tonnes in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes today. (WRAP)
• One tonne of plastics is equivalent to 20,000 two litre drinks bottles or 120,000 carrier bags (LINPAC )
• The amount of plastic waste generated annually in the UK is estimated to be nearly 5 million tonnes. (WRAP)
• The UK currently recycles approximately 24% of plastic while a European country like Germany recycles 44% (British Plastic Federation)
• Plastic makes up 9% of average household waste. (WRAP)
• All branches of Tesco and Sainsbury’s offer a plastic bag recycling service
• A report on the production of carrier bags made from recycled rather than virgin polythene concluded that the use of recycled plastic resulted in the following environmental benefits:
  – reduction of energy consumption by two-thirds
  – production of only a third of the sulphur dioxide and half of the nitrous oxide
  – reduction of water usage by nearly 90%
  – reduction of carbon dioxide generation by two-and-a-half times
• 1.8 tonnes of oil are saved for every tonne of recycled polythene produced
• Over 50%% of litter found on UK beaches in 2008 was plastic litter, an increase of more than 120% since 1994.
• 75% of post consumer plastic waste is sent to landfill
• Around 45 billion individual items, approximately one million tonnes of domestic plastics, are disposed of every year in the UK (WRAP)
• Every year an estimated 4.5 billion plastic bags are given away by UK supermarkets.
• Incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates 1 job, landfilling the same amount creates 6 jobs while recycling the same 10,000 tons creates 36 jobs.
• Plastic bags and other plastic rubbish thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
• Plastics can take up to 400 years to break down in a landfill.
• If you lined up all the polystyrene foam cups made in just 1 day they would circle the earth.
• In one year along, approximately 684,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions were saved by recycling the UK’s plastics, the equivalent of taking 216,000 cars off the road! (BPF).
• There are about 1,000 milk jugs and other bottles in a recycled plastic park bench. (RECOUP)
• Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours (Recoup)