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| According
to the Alameda County Waste Management
Authority, in the year 2000, 1,552,683
tons of waste was sent to Alameda County
landfills1.
11.5% of that waste was recyclable paper2.
Multiplying (.115) by 1,552,683 tons
shows that a total of 178,560 tons of
wasted recyclable paper was sent to
landfills from Alameda County in 2000.
To
extrapolate this figure to the entire
San Francisco Bay Area, we calculated
the per capita rate of throwing away
recyclable paper in Alameda County
in 2000, and multiplied that by the
population in the Bay Area's 9 counties:
San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa,
San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa,
Solano, and Alameda. To get the per
capita rate, we divided the number
of tons received by Alameda County
landfills in 2000 by the population
of 1,443,741 people in Alameda County
in 2000 to get 0.1237 tons of wasted
recyclable paper per person in Alameda
County in 2000. Since 1 ton is equal
to 2000 pounds3,
the per capita rate of wasted recyclable
paper is approximately 247 pounds
per person in Alameda County in 2000.
You can then multiply the per capita
rate of pounds of wasted paper by
the entire Bay Area population of
6,783,760 people4
in 2000 to see that the total amount
of wasted recyclable paper in the
San Francisco Bay Area in 2000 was
1,675,588,720 pounds.
To
equate this large amount to a recognizable
form, we compared this weight to that
of textbooks. A heavy textbook weighs
approximately 3 pounds5.
Dividing the amount of wasted recyclable
paper by 3 pounds yields the number
of possible textbooks made from wasted
recyclable paper in 2000 in the Bay
Area. BUT, we have to remember that
only 75% of recycled paper actually
becomes new paper products6.
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So
the calculation is:
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| (1,675,488,720
pounds in 2000) x (.75) |
~
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418,897,180
possible new textbooks in 2000 from
paper in the Bay Area |
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3
pounds per textbook |
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If
we divide the number of new textbooks
that could potentially have been made
from the wasted recyclable paper in
the Bay Area in 2000 by the number
of children ages 5-17 enrolled in
schools in the United States in the
year 2000, we get the number of new
textbooks that could have been made
per enrolled child: |
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| 418,897,180
possible textbooks |
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8
new textbooks per enrolled child in
2000 in the U.S. |
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51,403,691
enrolled children in the U.S. |
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Because
there may be some unknown external
factors that may have been unaccounted
for, to be conservative we rounded
down to 7 new textbooks per enrolled
child in 2000 as our final outcome.
If
we consider the numbers for the year
2000 to be average numbers for every
year, the Bay Area could potentially
use our wasted recyclable paper to
make 7 new textbooks per every child
enrolled in school per year, instead
of throwing it away.
Sources:
1. Amount of waste in Alameda County
in 2000 in tons (see Alameda
County Waste Characterization Study,
page ES-6)
2. Percentage of waste that is recyclable
paper in 2000 (see Alameda
County Waste Characterization Study,
page ES-10 ). This figure does not
count mixed paper or other paper.
3. Conversion
factors
4. All population data in these calculations
are from the US
Census Bureau 2000 Census
5. By weighing a series of textbooks,
we found the heaviest to be about
three pounds. So we are over-estimating
the amount of paper needed to make
one textbook, since many textbooks
that children ages 5-17 use weigh
less than three pounds.
6. Dave Williamson, Manager of Ecology
Center Curbside Recycling Program
in Berkeley, California, USA.
To
learn more about this public service
announcement please contact Monica
Wilson.
Credits:
This radio public service announcement
was researched and created by Matt
Oden with distribution by
Julia Varshavsky. |
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