Basic Recycling Facts

When you think of recycling, what is the first thing that comes to mind? At Western Tire Recyclers, we think usually think of OTR tires – but that isn’t typical. Most people think of some of the more day-to-day items such as soda cans, newspapers, and water bottles. How much do you know about these items?

Aluminum

Used beverage cans are the most recycled item in the US, meaning that aluminum cans account for less than 1% of waste in the US. There is no limit to how many times aluminum can be recycled, and a used beverage can can be back on a grocery store shelf in as little as 60 days!

Paper

We all know paper comes from trees, but did you know that if we recycled all of our newspapers we could save about 250,000,000 trees a year? The average American uses around 7 trees worth of paper and wood products a year, and the amount we throw away would be enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.

Plastic

Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles per hour. Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as it require to burn it, and by recycling one ton of plastic (bottles, packaging, grocery bags, etc.) we can save as much as 2,000 gallons of gasoline!

Recycling can be easier than you think! By recycling old OTR tires, we help to reduce the amount of rubber in landfills or polluting the environment. If need to dispose of a large number of tires of any type, contact us for more information.