Raven unrolls a table from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency across the Bench. "Where do our materials go afterward?"
Rocket scans the numbers. "Paper: 67 million tons in one year. That is a lot of paper towels."
"And how much came back as new paper?" Raven asks. "What do you notice about the recycled column?"
"Forty-six million tons recycled," Rocket says. "That is most of it. But plastics..." He goes quiet.
Nova hovers over the plastics row. "Compare the generated number to the recycled number," she hints. "Then find the landfill."
"Thirty-five point seven million made. Three million recycled. Twenty-seven million to landfills," Rocket reads.
Raven writes a new question in the log: "Why is paper so different from plastic?"
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tracks what happens to materials in household trash. Its table below covers the year 2018 in the United States.
Generated means the total amount thrown out that year. Recycled means made into new material. Landfilled means buried.
Numbers are in millions of U.S. tons, rounded the way the agency reports them.
| Material | Generated | Recycled | Recycling rate | Landfilled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper and paperboard | 67.4 million tons | 46 million tons | 68.2 percent | 17.2 million tons |
| Glass | 12.3 million tons | 3.1 million tons | 31.3 percent | 7.6 million tons |
| Plastics | 35.7 million tons | 3 million tons | 8.7 percent | 27 million tons |
The agency notes that paper had the highest recycling rate of any material in household trash that year.
Some plastics do better than the average. Bottles and jars made of a common clear plastic were recycled at about 29 percent in 2018.
Paper fiber cannot be recycled forever. A fiber can generally be used five to seven times before it becomes too short to make new paper.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| More paper was recycled than landfilled in 2018. | ? |
| More plastic was recycled than landfilled in 2018. | ? |
| Glass had a higher recycling rate than plastics. | ? |
| Paper fibers can be recycled an unlimited number of times. | ? |
Science standards say synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society. This table is one way to see the impact.
Every ton recycled is a ton of natural resource not taken fresh. Every ton landfilled is buried. Both choices change the land, the water and the air.
All human activity draws on natural resources and has consequences, both good and bad, for people and the natural environment.
Sharp data reading. Tomorrow you will look at the materials in your own home and sort the Bench for next week's build.