1. Waste Management Recycle America
The Story of Recycling

2. What Does Recycling Really Mean?
Recycling is the diversion or “steering away” of materials from the waste stream.
Materials or resources can be processed into new materials and/or manufactured into new products, instead of being buried in landfills as trash.

3. What Does Recycling Really Mean?
How many pounds of waste do Americans
generate per year (before recycling)?
4.4 pounds of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day x 295,734,134 United States residents x
365 days a year ____________________ Americans throw away =
474,949,019,204 pounds per year

4. The Good News
Americans are recycling more – and the U.S. EPA hopes this will continue, setting a goal of 35%
MSW Recycling Rates

5. Who We Are 98 Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs)
31 Single Stream Facilities
Secondary Processing (included above)
8 Electronics Processing Plants (eCyclingsm Services)
1 Optical Sorting Plastics Facilities (Raleigh)
1 Secondary Processing Plant (Lakeville)
Materials Handled
Recycled/Reused 8.5 Million Tons/Year of Commodities
Enough to fill the Empire State Building more than 12.5 times.
Plastics and Niche Commodities from commercial customers

6. Environmental Leader – by 2020 WM will:
Help Power over two million homes with the waste we collect
Manage more than 20 million tons of recyclables each year
Provide over 25,000 acres of wildlife habitat at our landfills
Make investments to reduce our fleet’s emissions by 15 percent and increase its efficiency by 15 percent

7. Environmental Savings
Processing and handling more than 8.5 million tons of material EQUALS:
Green house gas reductions equivalent to taking nearly 4.8 million cars off of the road each year
The energy used by nearly 1.4 million homes each year – more than all of the households in most cities
Saving more than 41 million trees

8. Environmental Savings
Aluminum – 44,000 Tons Recycled
Energy savings equivalent to powering nearly 88,000 houses for one year
95% energy savings on the life cycle of the can
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours
Enough aluminum is thrown away to rebuild the nation’s commercial air fleet 4 times every year
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking nearly 126,000 cars off the road per year

9. Environmental Savings
Mixed Metals – 358,000 Tons Recycled
Energy savings equivalent to powering 292,000 houses for one year
74% energy savings on the life cycle of the can
Every pound of steel being recycled saves enough energy to light a 60-watt bulb for 24 hours
Enough iron and steel is discarded in the US to continually supply the nation’s automakers
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking nearly 390,000 cars off the road per year

10. Environmental Savings
Plastics – 198,000 Tons Recycled
If we recycled every plastic bottle we used, we would keep 2 million tons of plastic out of landfills
Energy savings equivalent to powering 86,000 houses for one year
We use enough plastic wrap to wrap all of Texas every year
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking 54,000 cars off the road per year

11. Environmental Savings
Old Newspapers – 2,000,000 Tons Recycled
Recycling of each ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water yearly
Every year enough paper is thrown away to make a 12 foot wall from New York to California
Energy savings equivalent to powering 317,000 houses for one year
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking 773,000 million cars off the road per year

12. Environmental Savings
Old Corrugated Containers – 1,900,000 Tons Recycled
Energy savings equivalent to powering 290,000 houses for one year
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking nearly 1,400,000 cars off the road per year
Making Corrugated Containers from virgin sources creates sulfur dioxide. Making it from recycled sources cuts the pollution in half
Corrugated Containers manufactured from recycled products use about 75% of the energy to make them from virgin sources

13. Environmental Savings
Glass Containers – 545,000 Tons Recycled
Recycling of one glass container saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours
1 ton of glass made from 50% recycled materials saves 250 pounds of mining waste
Glass can be reused an infinite number of times; more than 41 BILLION glass containers are made each year
Greenhouse Gas Reduction equivalent to taking 36,000 cars off the road per year
Energy savings equivalent to powering 14,000 houses for one year

14. Recycling - Papers Paper Recovered Old Newspapers Corrugated Boxes
Printing & Writing
Office Paper
Specialty Papers
Cereal-type Boxes
New Materials Made
Newspaper
Corrugated Boxes
Printing & Writing
Office Paper
Specialty Papers
Tissue Paper
Paper Towels
Gift Wrap Paper
Fiber Insulation

15. Old Newspaper Some of the companies we sell to and what is
made from our fiber:
Smurfit-Stone
AbitibiBowater
Mountain Fiber Insulation
US Green Fiber
US Gypsum
SP Newsprint Co
Rock-Tenn

16. Old Corrugated Containers
Some of the companies we sell to and what is
made from our fiber:
Georgia-Pacific
Smurfit-Stone
Sunoco
International Paper
Caraustar
Republic Paperboard
Corrugated Services

17. Printing/Writing, Office Paper, & Tissue
Some of the companies we sell to and
what is made from our fiber:
International Paper
Kimberly-Clark
Georgia Pacific
Marcal Paper Products

18. Recycling – Glass Glass Recovered Clear Glass Containers
Amber Glass Containers
Green Glass Containers
Blue Glass Containers
Flat/Plate Glass
New Materials/Uses
Glass Containers
Flat/Plate Glass
Decorative Landscaping
Terrazzo Flooring Tile
Aggregate

19. Recycling – Glass Some of the companies we sell to and what they
make from our glass:
Strategic Materials Inc.
Owens-Illinois (OI)
Enviroglasproducts
St Gobain Containers
Gallo

20. Recycling – Plastics Plastics Recovered HDPE Natural (milk jugs)
HDPE Colored (detergent bottles)
PET (soda & water bottles)
PVC (water and shampoo bottles)
Film plastics
Other plastics
New Materials/Uses
New Plastics Bottles
Clothing
Toys
Misc. Plastic products
Carpet Fiber
Plastic Lumber/Decking
Terrazzo Flooring Tile
Car Parts
Piping

21. Recycling – Plastics Some of the companies we sell to and what is
made from our plastics:
KW Plastics
Southeastern Container
Mohawk
Wellman
Envision
Master Mark
Trex
Boise Cascade
Poly America

22. Recycling – Metals Metals Recovered Aluminum Cans Aluminum Scrap
Steel Food Cans
Steel Scrap
Non-Ferrous Metals (Copper, Zinc, Gold, etc.)
New Materials/Uses
New Aluminum Cans
New Steel Cans
Car Parts
Airplane Parts
Bicycle Parts
Rebar
New Misc. Non-ferrous Metal Parts

23. Recycling – Metals Some of the companies we sell to and what is
made from our metals:
Anheuser-Busch Recycling
AMG Industries
David J. Joseph
Tube City

24. Recycling – Organics Organics Recovered Brush Tree Limbs Pallets
Pulp Chips
Clean Wood
Leaves
Misc. Organics
New Materials/Uses
Wood Chips (Natural & Colored)
Wood Fuel
Humus in Soil

25. Recycling – Organics Some of the companies we sell to and what is
made from our organics:
Rio Bravo (BioMass Fuel)
Rebark Time
Image Landscape
Cascade Rock
Aherns Landscape
MSI

26. We All Benefit from Recycling
The Recycling Industry:
Provides stable, beneficial jobs
Generates state and local government revenues
Stimulates capital investments
Helps the environment
Recycling is great for the economy and our environmental health and sustainability

27. We All Benefit from Recycling
Recycling helps the environment by:
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Lessening the need for new landfills, thereby preserving open space
Saving energy
Cutting air pollution
Conserving resources for future generations
Waste Management is the largest recycler of municipal solid waste in North America

28. Video Clip