General InformationGeneral InformationRECYCLING
AND WASTE REDUCTION STATISTICS
March
2000
The Disturbing Truth
“Researchers estimate that 14 to 20 million computers are put out to pasture each year….only about 30% of those units are resellable -the remaining are usually thrown away if not recycled”.1
In Canada approximately 26 million tires are
sold each year and an equivalent number is generated as used tires.2
In 1998, approximately 648,000 tonnes of
residential waste (curbside and depot) was recycled in Ontario. The breakdown is
as follows: 476,000 tonnes of paper, 100,000 tonnes of glass, 23,000 tonnes of
plastic, 13,100 tonnes of aluminum cans and foil, and 35,500 tonnes of ferrous
containers.
The 1998 figure of residential waste recycled
represents an increase of 9% over 1997 when 595,000 tonnes were recycled in
Ontario. Over the past few years there has been a steady increase in the amount
of waste recycled in Ontario: in 1996 532,000 tonnes were recycled and in 1984
454,000 tonnes.3
Canadians produce approximately 7 million tonnes
of organic waste each year.4
Litter can take anywhere from a few weeks to
thousands of years to
decompose.
·
It would take two to four
weeks for a littered traffic ticket to break down by natural processes.5
·
It
would take 300 years for a littered aluminum can to break down by natural
processes.6
·
It
would take approximately 1 million years for a littered glass bottle to break
down by natural processes.7
Ontario industries produce at least two and a
half SkyDomes-full of hazardous waste a year. (With the roof closed the Skydome has a
volume of 1.5 million cubic metres).8
By the age of only six months, each Canadian has
consumed as much resources as the average person in the developing world
consumes in his or her lifetime.9
Approximately 80% of office waste is paper,10
and of that, 70% is not recycled.11
For each full garbage bag we take to the curb,
the primary resource industry creates the equivalent of 71 full bags of waste.12
The average woman throws away over 10,000 sanitary napkins or tampons
during her lifetime. In 1990, over 12 billion sanitary pads were landfilled or
incinerated in Canada and the United States. Twenty billion soiled or soggy
"disposable" diapers made
the same journey.13
Twenty-seven percentage of all food produced in
North America is wasted.14
"Currently Canadians take home over 55
million plastic shopping bags every week".15
Plastic products contribute 7% by weight and 30%
by volume to municipal solid waste. Plastics also make up a large proportion of
litter on land, on shorelines and in waterways.16
In Canada we throw away 1.7 billion disposable diapers every year. This accounts for approximately 2.5% of all residential waste going to landfill.17
The manufacture of disposable diapers in Canada
consumes approximately 65,500 tonnes of pulp, 8,800 tonnes of plastic and 9,800
tonnes of packing material.18
Canadians use approximately 54,000 tonnes of
household cleaners annually.19
It is estimated that 13 billion pieces of direct
mail are delivered in Canada each year - between 1,000 and 2,000 pieces per
home. In 1989 approximately 270,000 tonnes of paper were consumed for direct
mail purposes. This represents 4.5 million trees.20
In Ontario 250 million litres of used oil is
generated, of which 35% is refined, 35% is used as fuel in cement kilns,
exported for incineration or burned in space heaters, and 30% is unaccounted for
(i.e. 58 to 75 million litres).21
One litre of oil can contaminate a million
litres of ground water.22
Percentage of lubricating oil sold annually in
Canada: 1 billion litres.23
Each year, the Do-it-Yourself automotive sector
discards an estimated 140 million empty oil containers which results in 5
million litres of oil being discarded in landfills.24
Each year the Do-it-Yourself automotive sector
discards an estimated 13 million oil filters which results in 4.6 million litres
of oil being discarded in landfills.25
"Every year 16.5 million litres of used oil
ends up in municipal landfills in Canada and another 4 million litres are poured
directly into storm drains (This is almost half the volume of oil spilled by the
Exxon Valdez)".26
Volunteers covering a 307 km coastline in the
Maritimes collected more than 100,000 items of trash over a 16-day
period (June 3rd to 18th) 1995). Of the total garbage collected, 61.9% consisted of polystyrene and
plastic.27
From 1989 to 1996 inclusive, 11.7 million tonnes of
packaging waste were saved from the garbage heap by reducing, reusing and
recycling — enough to fill a line of garbage trucks stretching bumper to
bumper from Vancouver to Halifax and back to Toronto.28
In 1998, Canadian governments and businesses disposed
of 21 million tonnes of municipal and construction and demolition waste,
representing 690 kg of waste for each Canadian.29
Most residential waste consists of:
·
1/3 paper
·
1/3 food
scraps & garden trimmings
·
1/5 metal
& plastic
·
remaining
is made up of wood, rubber, leather, and textile & building materials.30
Each
Canadian throws away approximately ½ kilogram of packaging daily. In fact, half
of our cities’ solid waste by volume and 1/3 of our waste by weight is made up
of packaging.31
Making
a Difference
In 1999, Canadian mills successfully transformed
a record 5.2 million tonnes of recovered paper into new container board,
boxboard, other grades of paper, construction papers, communication, kraft &
sanitary papers, and building materials.32
In 1999, 42% of all paper consumed by Canadians
was recycled into newspaper products.33
The average recycled content of newsprint has risen
form 1.4% in 1990 to 22% in 1997, reducing the Canada Pulp and Paper
Industry’s electricity consumption by over 2.5 million megawatt hours per
year.34
Today over 3.8 million Ontario households have
access to curbside multi-material blue box collection.35
Each year in Ontario, enough recyclable material
is diverted from landfills to fill up the Skydome 3.2 times.36
Grocery distributors in Canada now recycle
between 70% and 85% of store packaging (Canadian Council of Grocery
Distributors, www.ccgd.ca). In fact one major
Ontario supermarket chain recycles four times as many old corrugated cardboard
boxes as all the municipalities of Ontario put together.37
About 9000 tonnes of plastic film resin are used
annually to manufacture retail sacs and garbage bags in Canada.38
It is estimated that if all aerosol cans were
recycled in North America, there would be enough steel to make 160 000 new cars.39
In 1998, over 845,000 tonnes of finished compost
were produced in Canada.40
Recycling
one tonne of newspaper saves: 19 trees, 3 cubic metres of landfill, 4000
kilowatt hours of energy, 29,000 litres of water and 30 kgs of air pollution
effluent.41
Every tonnes of steel cans recycled saves 1.36
tonnes of iron ore and 3.6 barrels of oil.42
A
steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution
and mining wastes by 70%.43
For each tonne of newspaper recycled, 17 trees
are saved.44
When scrap iron is used instead of iron ore to
make steel, mining wastes are reduced by 97%, air pollution effluents by 80% and
water pollution by 76%.45
It takes 95% less energy to produce new aluminum
from discarded aluminum pop cans than from raw materials.46
Steel is the most recycled material in Canada
(Source: Dofasco) In fact 1998, the Canadian steel industry recycled over 8.0
million tonnes of steel.47
If all the glass bottles and jars sent to
Consumers Glass from recycling programs in Canada in 1995 were laid end to end,
they would circle the earth four times around the equator, (based on average
bottle height of 19.1 cm).48
Recycling one glass bottle in the making of a
new glass container saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning
for four hours.49
NOTES
1 Goodrich, Melissa. “ Electronic Recycling: Making
Electronic Recycling Connections”. Recycling
Today. September 1999, Vol. 37(9):64
2 Hickman, Doug. “Recycling: What Goes Around Comes
Around”. June/July 1999, Vol. 4(3):16.
3 3Rs Information Partnership. “Municipal 3Rs in
Ontario: 1998 Fact Sheet”. October
1999.
4 The Composting Council of Canada 416-535-6710
5 Office
of Recycling, State of Rhode Island
6
Multi-Materials Stewardship Board. “Fascinating Facts”. Online.
www.mmsb.org/fascfacts.htm
(October)
7 Refer to note 6
8 Pollution Probe 416-926-1907
9 Recycling Council of Ontario Speech
10 Recycling Council of Ontario
11 Canadian Pulp and Paper Association 514-866-6621
12 Recycling Council of Ontario
13 Women and
Environments Magazine. Spring 1992. Vol. 13(2)
14 Toronto
Environmental Handbook ‘99
15 Refer to note
6
16 Environment Canada. “Environmental Choice Fact
Sheet: Products Made from Recycled Plastic”. (1995).
17 Knowaste Incorporated, personal communication (March
2000). 905-521-1375
18 Ibid.
19 TerraChoice 1998
20 Recycling Council of Ontario
21 CM Consulting. “ Used Oil, Filters, & Container
Stewardship in Ontario”. February 2000.
22 “RCO Background Paper: Provincial & State
Policies on Used Oil Management”. May 1998, p.5
23 Canadian Petroleum Products Industry 416-492-5677
24 & 25 Refer to note 22
26 Environment Canada. Marine Plastics Debris Newsletter,
No. 5 October 1995
27 Ibid.
28 National Packaging Protocol. “”. Online. www.pac.ca/whatweachieved.htm
29 Statistics Canada. “The Daily”, (March 31, 2000)
30 Ontario Ministry of Environment. “Frequently Asked
Questions: Waste”. Online. www.ene.gov.on.ca/envisin/faq/index.htm#Waste
31 District of Kootenay Boundary. “Did You Know…??”.
Online. www.rdkb.com
32 Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. “Recycling:
Paper Recycling in Canada-Some Facts”. Online.
www.cppa.org/english/wood/mil_rec.htm
33
Ibid.
34 Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. “Recycling:
Paper Recycling in Canada-Some Facts”.
Online.
www.cppa.org/english/wood/mil_ener.htm
35 Refer to
note 3
36 Corporations Supporting Recycling 416-594-3456
37 Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council
(PPEC). (1999) 416-626-0350
38 Corporations Supporting Recycling. “Purchasers urged
to specify recycled content in film bags and plastic products”. The CSR Link.
August 1999, p. 8.
39 Morawski, Clarissa. “ Recycling: Under Pressure”. Solid
Waste & Recycling. Oct./Nov. 1999, Vol. 4(5):20.
40 Recycling Canada. May 1999. Vol. 10(5):3
41, 42, & 43 Refer to note 6
44 Corporations Supporting Recycling. Online. www.csr.org
45 Recycling Council of Canada
46 Alcan Aluminum Limited. “Processes & Products:
Recycling Activities”. Online.
www.alcan.com/Markets.nsf/Topics-e/Recycling
47
Statistics Canada 41-001
48 Glass
Works, Consumers Glass. "Fascinating Facts About Glass". Online. www.glassworks.org/glassworks.html
49 Ibid.
Last updated: September 30, 2002
The Recycling Council of Ontario's e-mail address is: rco@rco.on.ca.
