Welcome to the Cal Poly Recycling Program
On this site you will find information about the program and what you can do to keep Cal Poly green.
- Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
- You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.
- In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave 90,000 pounds of trash for his or her children.
- Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year.
- Each person generates on average 4.4 pounds of waste per day. Enough energy is saved by recycling one aluminum can to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.
- Annually, enough energy is saved by recycling steel to supply Los Angeles with electricity for almost 10 years. Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.
- Americans will throw away over 1,000,000 tons of aluminum cans and foil, more than 11,000,000 tons of glass bottles and jars, over 4,500,000 tons of office paper, and nearly 10,000,000 tons of newspaper.
- Recycling decreases the unemployment rate; incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates 1 job; land filling the same amount creates 6 jobs; recycling the same 10,000 tons creates 36 jobs.
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's website lets you calculate your "carbon footprint," or personal/family greenhouse gas emissions. You can also find ways to lower your emissions while reducing your energy and waste disposal costs.
