Portland Public Schools
Portland, Oregon

Stephenson Elementary School

Strive, Shine, Succeed

2627 SW Stephenson St. | Portland, OR 97219
Phone: (503) 916-6318 | Fax: (503) 916-2675

Stephenson Green Team

Interested in joining the Green Team?  Contact Jenny Stout for information.

Recycling Facts

Paper

  • A 12-foot high wall could be built from NYC to Los Angeles with all of the office and writing paper thrown out in the U.S. each year.
  • Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees.
  • Every Sunday, the U.S. wastes nearly 90% of all the recyclable newspapers. This wastes about 500,000 trees.
  • One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.
  • Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or 580 pounds per person.
  • More than 1/3 of all paper fiber used to make paper comes from recycled paper.

Glass

  • Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours.
  • In the coming decade, Americans are projected to throw away over 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars.
  • Recycling saves 25-30% of the energy used to make glass from virgin materials.

Steel

  • Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.
  • Enough energy is saved each year by recycling steel to supply Los Angeles with electricity for almost 10 years.
  • The steel industry recycles nearly 19 billion steel cans into new products each year - about 600 cans recycled every second!

Plastics

  • Americans throw away enough plastic bottles each year to circle the earth four times.
  • Every hour, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles. (22 billion plastic bottles per year).

Junk Mail

  • American’s receive almost 4.5 million tons of junk mail per year.
  • About 44% of junk mail is never opened.
  • Every person in the US receives the equivalent of one and a half trees per year or approximately 560 pieces of junk mail per year.
  • The average person gets 1.5 personal letter per week compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail.
  • Approximately 40% of the solid waste mass that makes up our landfills are paper and cardboard.
  • 100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail.
  • Your name is typically worth 3 to 20 cents each time it is sold.

Aluminum

  • Aluminum can be recycled using 5% of the energy used to make the original product.
  • Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or computer for three hours.
  • American throw enough aluminum away every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
  • Using recycled aluminum instead of virgin materials decreases water and air pollution and energy use by 95%.
  • You can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one.