Recycling Facts

Randolph County Solid Waste Authority

At Randolph County Solid Waste Authority, we gathered up some of our favorite fun and interesting recycling facts for you. We think you might appreciate them as much as we do!

  1. If you throw away an aluminum can today, it will remain a can 500 years from now.

  2. In 2018, over 52 million tons of paper was recycled.

  3. Over 80,000,000,000 (eighty trillion) cans are recycled each year.

  4. Every 3 months, Americans send enough aluminum to landfills to build all commercial airplanes in existence.

  5. There is no limit to how many times we can recycle aluminum.

  6. Throughout a lifetime, the average person encounters 25,000+ recyclable aluminum cans.

  7. Recycling 1 ton of paper spares 17 trees.

  8. Americans throw away enough trash in one year to circle the earth 24 times

  9. Steel cans help keep food fresher for longer, meaning less food waste

  10. Around one third of landfill space is taken up with packaging materials

  11. Glass is endlessly recyclable and generally doesn’t suffer from loss of quality or purity

  12. The United States recycles enough iron and steel scrap metals, by weight, to build more than 900 Golden Gate Bridges.

  13. Every year, 2.4 million tons of recycled glass are used to make new bottles and jars

  14. 75% of all aluminum produced in the US is still around today

  15. There is more plastic in the ocean than there are stars in the Milky Way

  16. Recycling just one ton of paper saves 7,000 gallons of water.

  17. Americans will use over 2 and a half million plastic bottles every thirty minutes, and most of them are simply thrown away rather than recycled.

  18. Every three months, Americans throw enough aluminum in the landfills to build our nation’s entire commercial air fleet.

  19. Recycling prevents waste from going into oceans – it is proven, when there is a strong recycling culture, there is less litter and less waste going into oceans.

  20. Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12 foot high wall from Seattle to New York (a new wall every year).

  21. Making glass from recycled material cuts related water pollution by 50%

  22. 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in America

  23. Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees

  24. Recycling plastic requires 88% less energy than crafting it from raw materials

  25. Nearly half of food in America goes to waste

  26. One metric ton of electronic scrap from personal computers contains more gold than that recovered from 17 tons of gold ore.

  27. Plastic bottles are often recycled into downgraded products, like carpet and fiberfill for jackets.

  28. Recycling 1 ton of cardboard saves 46 gallons of oil.

  29. 80 billion pounds of food is thrown away in each year

  30. Nearly 1 billion trees worth of paper is thrown away each year

  31. More than $161 billion is lost each year to food waste

  32. If we recycled all newspapers, we could save over 250 million trees every year
Recycling Facts

A Shocking 91% of Plastic Is Not Recycled

Our Oceans Now Contain Large Floating Garbage Patches

Our planet has 5 huge gyres (garbage patches) floating on our oceans. The largest one, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is over 1.6 million square kilometers in size –that’s twice the size of Texas.

5 Gyres of Plastics and Synthetics

The five gyres are: the North Atlantic Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre. About half of the mass consists of synthetic fishing nets and the remainder is mostly plastic bottles and waste.

The Ocean Cleanup

Now, the goal is to get rid of plastic from our oceans – and keep it out. You can visit The Ocean Cleanup website to learn more about the largest cleanup effort in history and how you can get involved.

Waste Management & Recycling In Randolph County, WV

Randolph County Solid Waste Authority

Whether you’re interested in options to handle your household trash in Mill Creek, managing waste collection for your business in Beverly, or collaborating with concerned scientists and citizens to help cleanup the largest patch of ocean garbage in the world, your efforts demonstrate good citizenship. That is something you can take pride in. Thank you for visiting our website. At Randolph County Solid Waste Authority, we appreciate you taking the time to learn more about proper waste management in Randolph County, WV, and beyond. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us for assistance.

To the People Randolph County

By now those of you who are reading this know that that the Tygart valley Recycling Center (formerly the Randolph County Recycling Center), has closed. First of all, the Randolph County Solid Waste Authority appreciate your passion for recycling and how you express importance for a Recycling Center. to give you a little history on the Center. Mr. Sterling Daniels is the owner of the Recycling Center. The owner before him was Mr. Joe Gum. The Randolph County Solid Waste Authority as never owned the Center. In the past, We have assisted the recycling center in various ways but, have never owned it. It is, or was, a private business unto itself. Now the reason that it is closed. When I spoke with Mr. Daniels the reason for closing he stated that he is losing anywhere from $4 to $5 thousand dollars a month. We post it on our website so other will know where to go to take their recyclables. We are currently looking to meet with the Randolph County Commission and with the Elkins City Council to let them know of the situation and bounce some ideas as to what direction to go. Hopefully, bring another recycling Center into the County. Getting rid of recyclables it not as easy as some think. Recycling is not as easy as everyone thinks. You Spend the month collect and bailing the items. The You try to find a Recycling company, much larger then your own, that will take them. You tell them that you will sell it to them at this price. Those that want to buy it will either meet your requested price or, low ball you. Most of the time, they low ball you. Even in recycling, you’ve got to make a profit to stay alive. I thank you for you passion and concern for recycling. I hope we can solve the problem soon. If you have any ideas or folks that deal in Recycling, please shoot me an e-mail.

Thank you for you patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
Clark Martin – Chairman
Randolph County Solid Waste Authority
P. O. Box 2147
Elkins, West Virginia 26241