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moves down the line. In 2009, almost 30 million tons of plastics were generated in the United
States, and only around 2 million tons were recovered. This being said, that means 28 million
tons of plastic went into the U.S. waste stream. Also in 2009, we filled United States landfills
with trash equivalent to the weight of 88 million cars, that is enough trash to circle the earth 24
times. Only 53.4 percent of all paper made is recycled in the U.S. On a national level, the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees a variety of waste issues. These include
regulation of hazardous wastes, landfill regulations, and setting recycling goals. More specific
recycling legislation is localized through city or state governments.
Materials/Methods:
To find the total amount of cubic yards recycled each week we went to Mr. Clark, Chapin's
Facilities Supervisor, he told us the area of each recycling and trash bin. He then told us how
many times a week the trash and recycling get taken to the landfill or collection centers. I
multiplied the area of the bins and the amount of times it gets taken each week. That gave me the
total amount of cubic yards that either get recycled or taken to the landfills. I added the two totals
together and came to the conclusion of: if we did not recycle at CHS we would be taking 104
cubic yards of waste to the landfills each week; that is equivalent to 9,568 pounds of trash.
Here are facts we used to help us calculate our totals:
We have 3 recycling bins at CHS
Each recycling bin has an area of 8 cubic yards.
We have 2 trash bins at CHS that are 8 cubic yards and 1 trash bin that is 4 cubic yards.
In total we have 24 cubic yards of recycling and 20 cubic yards of trash.
Trash gets taken to the landfill 4 times a week.
So 80 cubic yards of trash is taken from CHS to the landfill each week.
Recycling gets taken to the collection center once a week.
So 16 cubic yards get taken each week.
Without recycling 96 cubic yards of trash would be taken to the landfill each week.
Cites Used:
http://www.enviro-news.com/glossary/waste_stream.html
http://recycleacrossamerica.org/recycling-facts
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/