10 Fun Facts About Recycling

垃圾回收利用十趣闻

By Wendy Gabriel

文/温迪·加布里埃尔

Doing your part to reduce your waste, reuse items when possible and recycle materials when appropriate, helps lessen¹ your impact on our environment. We’ve put together 10 fun facts about recycling to make sure you know it really is worth the extra effort.

每个人从我做起，减少废弃物，尽可能对物品重复使用，对材料适当回收，帮助减少个人对环境的影响。这里整理了10 条关于回收利用的趣闻，人们了解后一定会明白，为此多付出一些努力真的非常值。

(1) Every time a ton of paper is recycled it saves 17 trees, 380 gallons1 of oil, three cubic yards2 of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts² of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.

（1）每回收利用1吨废纸，能少砍伐17棵树，相当于节约380加仑石油、3立方码垃圾填埋空间、4000千瓦电和7000加仑水。

(2) Recycling just a single aluminum³ can saves enough energy to catch up on your favorite album on your music device and recycling 100 aluminum cans saves enough energy to keep the lights on in your bedroom for two weeks.

（2）仅回收1个铝罐节省的电便足够在音乐设备上听完一张最爱的专辑，而回收100个铝罐节省的电足以使卧室灯长明两周。

(3) There are over 80 billion aluminum cans used each and every year around the world. You can recycle aluminum over and over again.

（3）全世界年均铝罐使用量超过800亿个。人们可以不断回收利用铝。

(4) Making new paper from recycled materials uses less energy than producing paper from virgin⁴ tree products and leaves more trees to absorb excess carbon dioxide.

（4）相比于使用原生木材生产纸张，使用回收材料制造新纸耗能更少，还可保留更多树木吸收过量二氧化碳。

(5) There will be 1.5 million new jobs generated⁵ in the U.S. when U.S. recycling levels reach 75 percent.

（5）美国回收利用率若达到75%，将能创造150万个新就业岗位。

(6) Also, when U.S. recycling levels reach 75 percent, it will be the environmental and CO2 equivalent⁶ of removing 55 million cars from U.S. roads each year.

（6）另外，回收利用率达到75%时，从环保及二氧化碳排放水平看，相当于美国每年减少5500万辆汽车上路。

(7) Making recycled paper instead of new paper uses 64 percent less energy and uses 58 percent less water.

（7）生产再生纸而非重新造纸能够节约64%的电及58%的水。

(8) A single recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. It also creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than would be created when making a new bottle.

（8）回收1个塑料瓶节约的电可让100瓦灯泡亮4小时。与生产新塑料瓶相比，此举还能减少20%的空气污染及50%的水污染。

(9) Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or about 580 pounds3 per person.

（9）美国人每年使用6700多万吨纸张，人均约580磅。

(10) You can make 20 new aluminum cans from recycled material using the same amount of energy that it takes to make 1 brand new aluminum can.

（10）使用回收材料制造20个新铝罐，能耗等同于制造一个全新铝罐。

注释：

1. gallon 加仑。1加仑（美）=3.785412升，1加仑（英）=4.546092升。

2. cubic yard 立方码。1立方码≈0.76立方米。

3. pound 磅。1磅≈0.45千克。