Five Reasons to Recycle: 1. Recycling conserves our valuable natural resources. 2. Recycling saves energy. 3. Recycling saves clean air and clean water. 4. Recycling saves landfill space. 5. Recycling can save money and create jobs. Recycling Facts: Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water! Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or about 580 pounds per person. Every day American businesses generate enough paper to circle the earth 20 times! Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to burn a 100-watt bulb for almost four hours or run a television for three hours. Making recycled paper instead of new paper uses 64 percent less energy and uses 58 percent less water. Americans make more than 200 million tons of garbage each year, enough to fill Bush Stadium from top to bottom twice a day! Post-consumer plastic bottle recycling has increased dramatically over the last ten years, from 234 million pounds in 1989 to over 1.5 billion pounds in 1999. Americans throw out an average of 4.4 pounds of garbage per person per day. Paper is the largest component of municipal garbage (by weight and volume). Paper recycled today will be back on the shelf in about 60 days. Every Sunday, 500,000 trees are made into newspapers that are not recycled. Every day, U.S. paper manufacturers recycle enough paper to fill a 15-mile long train of boxcars. An aluminum can recycled today will be back on the shelf in about 80 days. How You Can Help: 1. Spread the word! People need to know how important recycling is. You can start by taking to neighbors, teachers, business and community leaders. Once you get people talking about recycling they'll see that it just makes sense. 2. If your community does not currently recycle, contact your city government and ask why not. Start a petition drive to get your community in a recycling program. 3. Have a recycling drive! Get your community, church group or school to host a recycling drive. Once people see how much money recycling can raise, everybody will want to do it! 4. Education. Ask your local school to have a recycling day to teach kids about the benefits of recycling.