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Baltimore County
United States
Metal (Steel and Aluminum)
Glass
Paper
Plastic
Baltimore County’s recycling and waste prevention program serves a population of approximately 800,000 spread out over an area of 640 square miles. Baltimore County’s first recycling drop-off center opened in June 1990. Between 1993 and 1995, the Bureau of Solid Waste Management gradually implemented its “One & One” collection program for the County. “One & One” refers to once a week trash, once a week recycling collection. A total of 47 private collectors service 240,000 single family homes and town homes. In 2006, Baltimore County’s waste diversion rate was 50 percent -- a 45 percent recycling rate plus a 5 percent waste prevention credit. Baltimore County earned the maximum 5 percent waste prevention credit through efforts such as grasscycling promotion, compost bin sales, and Reuse Directory distributions. In 10 years (from July 1995-June 2005) Baltimore County collected 1.2 billion pounds of recyclables. In the past 20 years, Baltimore County has sent more than two million tons of trash to BRESCO, a waste-to-energy facility in Baltimore City. This saved approximately 25 percent of Baltimore County’s only working landfill. In September 2006, Baltimore County established a permanent e-cycling site at Baltimore County Resource Recovery Facility (BCRRF) in Cockeysville. At this site, from September 2006 through March 2008, Baltimore County collected more than 1.8 million pounds of electronics for reuse or recycling. - In 2000, Baltimore County set the all-time record in the State of Maryland for residential mixed paper collected in a single year by a jurisdiction (40,400 tons).
back to top In 2006, US residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 251 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is approximately 4.6 pounds of waste per person per day. Currently, in the United States, 32.5 percent of solid waste is recovered and recycled or composted, 12.5 percent is burned at combustion facilities, and the remaining 55 percent is disposed of in landfills. Today, more than 20,000 communities provide recycling services to 200 million people. Recycling, including composting, diverted 82 million tons of material away from disposal in 2006, up from 15 million tons in 1980, when the recycling rate was just 10 percent. Recycling 82 million tons of MSW in 2006 saved the energy equivalent of more than 10 billion gallons of gasoline. By 2006, about 8,660 curbside programs had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials recovery facilities had been established to process the collected materials.
back to top Aluminum beer and soft drink containers were recovered at a rate of about 45 percent of generation (about 0.7 million tons) in 2006, and 36 percent of all aluminum in containers and packaging was recovered for recycling in 2006. In 2006, the steel industry recovered and recycled more than 14 million tons of shredded steel scrap from automobiles—a recycling rate of 95 percent, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or operate a computer for three hours. Once an aluminum can is recycled, it can be part of a new can within sixty days. Recycling 1 ton of aluminum saves the energy equivalent of the amount of electricity used by the average home in 10 years.
back to top back to top Total U.S. paper recovery reached a record high 54.3 million tons in 2007, up 87 percent relative to 1990 and 1.9 percent over 2006. The 54.3 million tons works out to 360 pounds for each person living in the U.S. The amount of paper being recovered far exceeds the amount sent to landfill sites. Every ton of paper that is recovered saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. To make one ton of paper using recycled fiber saves 17 trees, 360 gallons of water, 100 gallons of gasoline, and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air. If everyone in the United States recycled all of their newspapers, we could save about 250 million trees every year.
back to top In 2005 the recycling rate was 34 percent for PET plastic soft drink bottles and 29 percent for HDPE milk and water bottles. Plastics are a rapidly growing segment of the MSW stream. The largest category of plastics are found in containers and packaging (e.g., soft drink bottles, lids, shampoo bottles), but they also are found in durable (e.g., appliances, furniture) and nondurable goods (e.g., diapers, trash bags, cups and utensils, medical devices). Recycling a ton of plastic bottles saves the energy equivalent of 318 gallons of gasoline. Five recycled soft drink bottles makes enough fiberfill for a man’s ski jacket. Thirty-six recycled bottles can make one square yard of carpet. Recycling plastic uses 80 percent less energy than manufacturing plastic from virgin materials.
back to top Revised April 18, 2008 |
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Courthouse 