Recycling and Waste Management: Global Facts

Recycling and Waste Management Around the World

Interesting Facts

• In Japan, plastic from landfill sites gets into the sea and kills 10,000 fish each year.
• The Zabaleen take away rubbish from people who live in Cairo.
• In Senegal, people use old paper to wrap bread and fruit.
• People in India think cows are special animals.
• New Zealand has some interesting ideas about...
• The best recycling state in the USA is California.
• If you are driving around Germany, you will see recycling bins at all shopping places.
• In Switzerland, recycling is free, but throwing away your rubbish is expensive.
• Finland pays people to recycle their bottles and cans.
• You cannot bring plastic bags into Zanzibar.
• Gardeners like to make compost from bits of old fruit and vegetables.
• Shakespeare's father was punished for throwing rubbish into the street in 1515.
• Restaurant owners gave American students used vegetable oil for their bus.
• Andy Goldsworthy makes works of art from stones, leaves, and sticks.
• Yoshiyuki Ymahatsu makes pictures from old telephone cards.
• Jeff Clap makes bells from old oxygen bottles (Everest).
• Shigeru Ban made buildings out of recycled paper.
• The government of Athens first told people to take their rubbish outside the city walls.
• The UK government, in 1848, made a law called the Public Health Act.
• People in Italy use money from selling old computers to teach people about recycling.
• 8 billion plastic bags are used in the UK each year.
• In the USA, each person throws away 14 kilograms of rubbish each week.
• The earliest landfill sites were probably made in 3000 BC.
• Greeks put more than 90 percent of their rubbish into landfill sites.
• Switzerland only puts 7% of its rubbish into landfill sites.
• Austria recycles 64% of its rubbish.
• In a landfill site, 40 percent of the rubbish is paper.
• The USA uses the most paper.
• 100,000 turtles die each year because of eating plastic bags.
• In the UK, 15 million mobile phones are sold every year.
• In 1995, Shigeru Ban made a building out of recycled paper.
• In 2006, visitors to the Ideal Home show could visit...
• In the UK today, people buy a new mobile phone every 18 months.
• In Afghanistan, the government didn't allow people to buy satellite dishes.
• Clear glass was first made in Iraq.
• In July 2000, a hill of rubbish fell down in Manila.
• In Tokyo, Hirohyko Fukushima has made pots of recycled paper.
• The people of Canberra planned to recycle all their rubbish in 2010.
• Since 2002, the Irish government has made shoppers pay for plastic bags.
• Freecycle started in 2003.