Eco Facts and Tips

Water

*Between 1950 and 2000, the U.S. population nearly doubled. However, in that same period, public demand for water more than tripled! Americans now use an average of 100 gallons of water each day — enough to fill 1,600 drinking glasses! (EPA, 2008)

*Most people realize that hot water uses up energy, but supplying and treating cold water requires a significant amount of energy too. American public water supply and treatment facilities consume about 56 billion kilowatt-hours per year — enough electricity to power more than 5 million homes for an entire year. (EPA, 2008)

Appliances and Fixtures

*If all U.S. households installed water-efficient appliances, the country would save more than 3 trillion gallons of water and more than $18 billion dollars per year! (EPA, 2008)

*If one out of every 100 American homes was retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, we could save about 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year — avoiding 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gas savings would be equivalent to removing nearly 15,000 automobiles from the road for one year! (EPA, 2008)

*If you need to warm up or defrost small amounts of food, use a microwave instead of the stove to save energy. Microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens do. (California Energy Commission, 2006)

*A refrigerator built 20 years ago uses 70% more energy than today's energy-efficient models. (Environment Canada, 2007)

*Today's dishwashers are about 95% more energy-efficient than those bought in 1972 — your old dishwasher may be costing you more money in energy bills than it would take to buy a new one. (Environment Canada, 2007)

In the Bathroom

*About 75 percent of the water we use in our homes is used in the bathroom. (California Energy Commission, 2006)

*If your toilet is from 1992 or earlier, you probably have an inefficient model that uses between 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush. Newer, high-efficiency toilets use less than 1.3 gallons per flush — that's at least 60 percent less water per flush! (EPA, 2008)

*The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of two gallons per minute. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and at bedtime can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, which equals 240 gallons a month. (EPA, 2008)

*Letting your faucet run for five minutes uses about as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours. (EPA, 2008)

*Leaky faucets that drip at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year; A leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water every day. If your fixtures have leaks, you should get them repaired! (EPA, 2008)

*A full bath tub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses only 10 to 25 gallons. (EPA, 2008)

Energy

*Electricity production is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the United States, and is responsible for 40 percent of the nation's carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change. (Worldwatch Institute, 2007)

Heating

*Improperly sealed/caulked windows can account for up to 25% of total heat loss from a house. (Environment Canada, 2007)

Lighting

*Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are an energy-saving alternative to incandescent bulbs — they produce the same amount of light, use one third of the electricity, and last up to ten times as long. (Worldwatch Institute, 2007)

*Change 5 lights - Change a light, and you help change the world. Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars. (EPA, 2011)

Paper

*Each of us uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products per year. (EPA, 2008)

*Recycling paper instead of making it from new material generates 74 percent less air pollution and uses 50 percent less water. (EPA, 2008)

Uses of Recycled Paper

*Approximately 1.5 million tons of construction products are made each year from paper, including insulation, gypsum wallboard, roofing paper, flooring, padding and sound-absorbing materials. (American Forest and Paper Association, 2002)

*Recycled paper can also be made into paper towels, notebook paper, envelopes, copy paper and other paper products, as well as boxes, hydro-mulch, molded packaging, compost, and even kitty litter. (EPA, 2008)

Metal

*Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminum from raw materials. Energy saved from recycling one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years. (Keep America Beautiful, 2006)

* Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.

*Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis.

*A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by about 70%.

* When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you’d filled the same can half-full of gasoline and poured it into the ground.

Aluminum Cans

*More than 50% of a new aluminum can is made from recycled aluminum.

Glass

*Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the 1.350-foot towers of the former World Trade Center.

*Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.

*Glass never wears out -- it can be recycled forever. We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.

*States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

Plastic

*Americans go through 25 billion plastic bottles every year.

*26 recycled PET bottles equals a polyester suit. 5 recycled PET bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.

*If every American household recycled just one out of every ten HDPE bottles they used, we’d keep 200 million pounds of the plastic out of landfills every year.

*Recycled plastic bottles can be made into products such as clothing, carpeting, detergent bottles and lumber for outdoor decking.

Styrofoam/Polystyrene

*It is un-recyclable- you can't make it into new Styrofoam. The industry wants you to assume it is- don't BUY it!

*Each year American throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups, enough every year to circle the earth 436 times.

Steel

*The steel industry's annual recycling saves the equivalent energy to electrically power about 18 million households for a year. Every time a ton of steel is recycled, 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1000 pounds of coal and 40 pounds of limestone is preserved.

*The average American throws out about 61 lbs. of tin cans every month.

Junk Mail

*If only 100,000 people stopped their junk, mail, we could save up to 150,000 trees annually. If a million people did this, we could save up to a million and a half trees.

*The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.

Electronics

*Recycling one million cell phones saves enough energy to power more than 185 US households with energy for a year.

General Garbage

* In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his/her adult weight in garbage. If you add it up, this means that a 150-lb. adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs of trash for his/her children.

Other

*If today is a typical day on planet earth, humans will add fifteen million tons of carbon to the atmosphere, destroy 115 square mils of tropical rainforest, create seventy-two square miles of desert, eliminate between forty to one hundred species, erode seventy-one million tons of topsoil, add twenty-seven hundred tons of CFCs to the stratosphere, and increase their population by 263,000.

Note the source: www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts/html

 

CLEANING THE ECO WAY

You can use vinegar to clean, deodorize and restore many items in your household instead of toxic cleaning products. This is not only better for the environment, it is better for your wallet! http://www.rd.com/home/150-household-uses-for-vinegar/

Another non-toxic household cleaning tip: Use lemon juice to scrub away soap scum and hard water deposits. Put the used lemon, peel and all, into the disposal to freshen up the drain.

More non-toxic household tips using lemon: squeeze half a lemon over your plastic or wooden cutting board and let sit for 10 minutes to remove stains. Next use the lemon to scrub the board to kill bacteria.