EarthCARE Waste & Recycling Related FAQs

1. Is it better to use glass bottles or aluminum cans for drinks?
2. What natural materials from the earth are required to produce aluminum cans or glass bottles?
3. How much paper does Canada recycle?
4. What is an easy way to reduce garbage in the schools?
5. Where can I find general information on recycling in Ontario, Canada?
6. How many years do littered glass, plastic and aluminum containers last? (more than 1000yrs)
7. How many newspapers are printed every day?
8. How much garbage would an adult weighing 150 pounds generate in her/his lifetime?
9. How much of your garbage is packaging that you throw away immediately?

1. Is it better to use glass bottles or aluminum cans for drinks?
Answer coutesy of Grist Magazine (Ask Umbra 15 January 2004)
"Environmental news and humor from Grist Magazine, www.gristmagazine.com"

The answer is not simple and depends to some extent on where you live and how recycling is done. Both cans and bottles require natural materials taken from the earth. The finicky answer to your can-vs-bottle dilemma is that it depends how far the packaging materials were shipped when raw, empty, and filled. The energy costs of producing aluminum would make glass clearly preferable, if glass weren't so darn heavy. Lightweight aluminum may have equal or better freight costs even if it is shipped farther. However, moving glass is expensive (environmentally and financially), so it's more likely to be kept in a regional waste stream. You see how easy it is to go insane in an attempt to do the right thing. Learning the travel history of a drink container is a lot to ask of the average drinker. If you have a decent local glass-recycling program, go with glass.

Your aluminum drink can is just one of many uses for aluminum (and a rather small one, at that): Cars, buildings, airplanes, and more are all made with aluminum parts. And, of course, glass is also popular among the object-making businesses.

For more environmental news, subscribe to Grist Magazine's free email service, www.gristmagazine.com/signup.

2. What natural materials from the earth are required to produce aluminum cans or glass bottles?
Answer coutesy of Grist Magazine (Ask Umbra 15 January 2004)
"Environmental news and humor from Grist Magazine, www.gristmagazine.com"

Bauxite, the source of aluminum, is the third most common element on our planet, making up 8 percent of the earth's crust. The Hall-Heroult electrolytic smelting method of 1886 made aluminum available for the masses. In that process, bauxite is first scraped out of the earth's crust, then refined into alumina. (Four kilos of bauxite yield two kilos of alumina.) The alumina is then mixed with cryolite and electrocuted. Chemistry magic occurs, the alumina breaks down into liquid aluminum, and that liquid is poured off into ingots. (Two kilos of alumina make one kilo of aluminum.)

The manufacture of aluminum is resource intensive and uses a stunning amount of energy: an average of 7.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity for each pound of virgin aluminum. Removing bauxite is no environmental picnic, either, what with the open-cast mining, the deforestation, the mud pits, and the building of roads into once-pristine areas. On the up side, virgin aluminum is 100 percent recyclable. Making new cans from old ones requires as little as 5 percent of the energy needed to make new cans from bauxite. In the U.S., aluminum products generally contain 35 percent recycled content. Those numbers look good, don't they? I look small when I stand next to an elephant, too. Aluminum production costs are gargantuan, dwarfing recycling costs. And one ton of recycled aluminum saves enough electricity to power the average home for almost two years. Recycle those cans, folks.

Virgin glass beverage containers are also made from an abundant natural material: sand, mixed with limestone. Extracting any resource removes part of our earth, shifting the environment for good or, more commonly, ill, and sand is no exception. But the transformation of sand into glass is easier and less energy intensive than the laborious journey from bauxite to aluminum. Just get that sand really, really hot and it'll melt into a beautiful glass bottle. Glass is recyclable, as you know, although the market for glass recyclables varies widely by location.

For more environmental news, subscribe to Grist Magazine's free email service, www.gristmagazine.com/signup.

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3. How much paper does Canada recycle?
These figures are from a Statistics Canada survey done in 1997, many environment-related statistics and figures can be found on their site at www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/enviro.htm.

Canadian Recycling Facts

• Today, approximately 71% of the fibre used to make Canadian pulp and paper comes from sawmill residues and recovered papers that used to go into landfills.
• Over 90% of paper-based packaging is made from recycled fibre or sawmill residue.
• Canada is the world's largest importer of recovered paper and paperboard; it is also a leading
exporter of recycled-content paper and paperboard.
• In 1989, there was only one mill in Canada that could manufacture recycled-content newsprint. Today there are 23.
• In 1997, the Canadian industry used 4.7 million tonnes of recovered paper to manufacture recycled-content paper and packaging.
• Some 2.6 million tonnes, or 55 % of recovered paper used in Canada, came from domestic sources. The other 2.1 million tonnes was imported from the United States.
• In 1997, the recovery rate in Canada was 45.1 %; i.e., 45.1 % of the paper consumed in Canada was recovered to make new paper and paperboard products.
• Recovered paper is sold on international commodity markets; because recovered paper is a commodity, prices will vary by grade and are subject to economic conditions.

4. What is an easy way to reduce garbage in the schools?
Lunch time contributes greatly to the daily garbage accumulation. Introduce garbage free days and then post the reductions for all to see.

5. Where can I find general information on recycling in Ontario, Canada?
Visit the Recycling Council of Ontario's website at www.rco.on.ca, you will find a wide variety of information concerning recycling programs in Ontario.

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6. How many years do littered glass, plastic and aluminum containers last?
More than 1000 years.

7. How many newspapers are printed every day?
62.5 million

8. How much garbage would an adult weighing 150 pounds generate in her/his lifetime?
45 tonnes/600 x weight

9.How much of your garbage is packaging that you throw away immediately?
33%

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