Tag Archives: EPA

Metal+Glass Recycling in the USA

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Using a similar set of statistics as some of my peers, I thought about the topic of sustainability, and so a question I asked myself is: what’s in my environment that I can potentially reuse. Two types of material I come to find I use often include: glass especially when I think of my phone, what I use to drink, windows etc. The second one I often use is metal whether that be my phone, my car, my speaker etc. From 1960-2018, the epa estimates that the total change in glass recycling amounted to approximately: 2,960,000 tons. In that same time stretch, total change in the amount of metal recycled amounted to 8,670,000 tons. The growth factor for glass was about 30.6 and for metal it was about 174.4. The Percentage Change for glass is then: 3060% and for metals it was 17440%. When calculating the rate of change for glass: 2.96 x 10^6/58= 51034.48 tons more of glass was recycled per year and for metals it was: 8.76 x 10^6/58= 151034.48 tons more of metal recycled per year. 

Glass recycling on the surface may sound like a good idea, but I decided to dig a little deeper into the materials recycling controversy surrounding its overall utility. According to various websites disputing the overall eco-friendliness of the material, glass is “endlessly” recyclable yet bottles/jars etc. require more energy to manufacture and then recycle and process into sand or reprocess into reusable glass than it takes to reuse plastic. However, plastics’ lifetime utility decreases after a few years whereas glass according to some websites is repeatedly reusable. According to one source, for 10% of broken down glass getting recycled (per year) total energy costs to break it down reduces by 3%. This controversy makes me reevaluate the short-term and long term impacts, in other words, the opportunity cost not just on the good itself, but the lifetime impact of the consumption of the good and its future ramifications on an interconnected issue like carbon emissions.

Works cited: 

https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#composting

https://earth.org/glass-bottles-environmental-impact/

https://www.britglass.org.uk/our-work/recycling

https://cen.acs.org/materials/inorganic-chemistry/glass-recycling-US-broken/97/i6

https://earth911.com/business-policy/how-many-times-recycled/

Wasted Water and What We Can Do

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Water is critical to all forms of life on our planet.  Without water, humans would not survive.  However, based on the statistics, it doesn’t seem that we place as much importance on water as we should.  In the US alone, a family can waste 180 gallons of water per week.  Even something as seemingly simple as letting the water faucet run for 5 minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water.  As of 2015, each American was estimated to use an average of 82 gallons per day.  This wasted water has real affects on the United States, with 40 out of the 50 US states expecting some form of water shortage in the next decade, as was reported by a 2014 Government Accountability Report.  For something so vital to our very being, mankind sure doesn’t treat water that way.  The wasting of so much water annually can have serious ramifications on future generations’ water supply and we can even see some of these water supply issues faced today.

Water wastage not only harms ourselves and the environment but also harms people financially.  It is estimated that more than $380 could be saved annually solely by using WaterSense labelled fixtures and ENERGY STAR certified appliances.  Despite the negative statistics there are ways to manage and curtail the current wasting of water.  Apart from using certified appliances, doing certain small tasks such as turning off the faucet while brushing can have massive affects in the long run.  By turning off the tap while brushing, roughly 8 gallons of water per day could be saved.  Just simply turning off the water while brushing for 2 minutes could potentially save 2,920 gallons of water annually.

There is no one easy solution to stop the current situation of water wastage, but by being aware of the problem and actively looking for small ways to cut your own wasting of water, massive changes can be made slowly over time.

Works Cited:

https://www.epa.gov/watersense/statistics-and-facts#:~:text=Water%20Stats,gallons%20of%20water%20annually%20nationwide.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/06/06/189192870/when-you-waste-food-youre-wasting-tons-of-water-too