What a Waste

Background Information

1. Recycling.

• Every new ton of glass produces 27.8 pounds of air pollution. Recycling glass reduces that pollution by 14-20%
• The environmental costs associated with processing virgin glass are £50 per ton, as opposed to £38 for a ton of recycled glass.
• For the processing of virgin aluminium, the associated environmental costs are £1250 per ton, while processing a ton of recycled aluminium results in £200 in environmental costs.
  
• Replacing virgin paper pulp with recycled fibres reduces actual water use by 58 percent. Recycling a ton of office paper reduces water usage by 7,000 gallons.

2. Energy Use/Conservation.

• In order to help reduce CO₂ emissions, the UK Government set a target of 10% electricity generation from renewable sources by the year 2010. Renewable energy generation results in very low levels of carbon dioxide.
• Installing low energy light bulbs and proper insulation, and turning off electrical appliances when they are not needed could save about £200 on the average UK family's annual fuel bill.

3. Fuel/Cars.

• In Britain, transport produces 25% of total CO₂, the main gas implicated in climate change, and its share of this total has been growing. Transport is also responsible for most of the emissions of local pollutants in urban areas which damage health and cause other undesirable local effects (dirty buildings, noise etc).
• Burning petrol or diesel in car engines also produces other pollutants such as Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM10). These are local air quality pollutants, causing problems for those with breathing difficulties.
• The Mayor of London announced recently (February 2002) that he was planning to introduce 'congestion charging', a £5.00 daily fee to be allowed to drive a motor vehicle in central London. However he also announced that vehicles powered by clean fuels (electricity, LPG or 'hybrids') would be exempt from the charges.