America Recycles Day 2023
Today is America Recycles Day, which aims to encourage Americans to purchase recycled products and recycle more. The holiday was founded in 1997, but recycling is a much older concept than we give it credit for.
Archaeological studies have found that during periods when natural resources were sparse, waste dumps show less household waste, giving many reason to believe that our ancestors were recycling and reusing products long ago.
The recycling rate in the USA has increased from less than seven percent in 1960 to the current rate of 32 percent. An EPA study found that recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for 681,000 jobs and $37.8 billion in wages.
To build on our progress, Routeware encourages every American to contribute by recycling right, not only on America Recycles Day, but all year long.
One area where America is doing well is aluminum recycling. In fact, the U.S. recycles about 65% of its aluminum. That’s more than any other recycled item.
Here’s some fun facts:
🕧 In America, 105,800 cans are recycled every minute.
📺 Your television can run for 3 hours from the energy saved by recycling one can.
💸 In 2019, an aluminum can was worth about 1.7 cents.
🤑 The industry pays more than $1 billion annually for recycled cans.
It’s not all positives, however. According to National Geographic, Americans send 64 tons of waste to landfills during their lifetime. That’s 246 million tons of waste each year.
So, how do we reduce that number? By educating people!
Digital Nudges Help Protect the Planet, One Bin at a Time | Routeware Sends Over 1B Recycling Reminders
Recyclers have downloaded 5.96 million calendars and diverted tons of materials from landfills.
Our tech suite for waste and recycling outreach and education allows clients to notify people of collection days and changes, educate them about what goes where, and empowers them to do their part to protect the planet every day.
When cities and haulers provide digital tools to help people understand waste and recycling, real environmental outcomes result. Taken together, their actions are helping create broad impacts on America Recycles Day 2023:
- 1.34 Billion Recycling Notifications
What it means: We’ve reminded people about their collection days over one billion times, helping move over 90 million tons of material through the value chain more efficiently and effectively.
- 1.5 Million Recycling Notifications…In The Past 24 Hours
What it means: We’ve reminded people about their collection days over one million and a half times in the past day alone.
- 5.96 Million Calendar Downloads
What it means: When people can download a recycling calendar at home, their waste services providers don’t have to mail them — reducing the CO2 generated by delivery by more than 88 tons per year.
- 13.95 Million Households Served
What it means: Nearly 14 million people have used our Community tools to better their recycling behaviour.
- 163,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Plastic Straws
What it means: The Game teaches thousands of people where plastic straws go, ensuring 43 tons of straws are properly disposed of each year.
Fun Fact: there were 418,000+ correct guesses for plastic straws last year!
- 150,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Batteries
What it means: Batteries can cause fires in trucks and at the landfill, so disposing of them properly is extremely important. The Game taught thousands of people where batteries go, preventing recycling center fires and ensuring 37 tons of batteries have been properly disposed of, keeping potentially hazardous material out of landfills.
Fun Fact: there were 433,500+ correct guesses for batteries last year!
- 134,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Metal Hangers
- 133,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Plastic Cutlery
- 110,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Plastic Shopping Bags
- 107,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Paper Egg Cartons
What it means: The Game teaches thousands of people where many items go every day, ensuring items are properly disposed of and the recycling stream is kept free of contaminants, saving the planet and saving tax-payers money.
- 103,000 Wrong Waste Sorting Game Guesses for Cell Phones
What it means: Our Game helps thousands of people properly dispose of old cell phones, diverting 15 tons of phones from landfills annually and enough mercury to contaminate more than a hundred thousand lakes.
Fun Fact: there were 333,500+ correct guesses for cell phones last year!
Wanting to join us in helping produce real environmental outcomes, all while driving business forward? This America Recycles Day, Let’s Talk.
