sustainability research facts about behaviour

Recycling

Conserving Resources
Every ton of paper recycled a year saves 17 trees and 7000 gallons of water.
Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.
Recycling one ton of glass saves the equivalent of 10 gallons of oil.
Reducing Pollution
According to the U.S. EPA, methane is the second largest source of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and landfills account for 37% of methane gas output. By reducing and recycling properly organic materials, including paper, we can divert them from landfill, thereby reducing anaerobic decomposition and the production of methane gas.
Energy Savings
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.
The recycling of one glass container saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours.
For every pound of steel recycled, it can save enough energy to light a 60-watt bulb for 24 hours.
Every ton of paper recycled can save up to 4200 kilowatt hours of energy.

gathered from (www.opednews.com/articles)

Eating lower on the food chain

Eating local, vegetarian, and organic can reduce the ecological footprint of our diet by 90%.
A 2006 study found that children who switched to organics quickly stopped having detectable levels of pesticides in their urine.
Similarly, the number of farmer's markets in the US doubled between 1994 and 2004.
A Chicago study found that food in a supermarket traveled an average 1,500 miles to get to the store. By contrast, food at a local farmer's market travels an average of 73 miles.
Cows, pigs, and chickens produce 5 tons of manure per person in the USA per year.
As a consequence of the above, the EPA estimates agriculture is responsible for 70% of the water pollution in the U.S., much of it from concentrated animal feedlots .
Beef requires up to 70,000 liters of water per kilogram of beef produced. Chicken requres up to 6,000 L per kilo produced.
A person can reduce their CO2 emissions more by switching from a typical western diet to a vegan one than they could by switching their vehicle from a gas guzzler to a hybrid.
Animal protein requires ten times more energy and produces ten times more greenhouse gasses than plant protein.
Red meat requires the use of 6-20x as much land, and 5-25x as much water, and produces 5-17x the water pollution as an equivalent amount of plant protein.
If all people in the world ate like Americans, Earth could only support 2.5 Billion people. (There are now 6.5 B, projected to reach 9+ B by mid-century).
90% of antibiotics given to livestock are used to make them grow faster, not to treat infections.
>50% of all antibiotics in North America are fed to livestock, which leads to antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Present seafood trends will lead to the collapse of all commercial fisheries by 2048

gathered from (www.triplepundit.com/pages/great-ecostats-for-foodbased-green-busin.php )

Packaging

Growth of food and beverage packaging is approximately 3% annually
http://www.scionresearch.com/Portals/0/SCION_Packaging_Brochure.pdf, this pdf is about a crown research institue called scion, they are actively working to produce packageing products to support new zealands food industry for a "biobased economy", to provide viable economic and environmentaly friendly options for manufacturers and users. they focus on improving new forests and forestry science, bioproduct development, and sustainable design. some of the above bullet points talking about landfill waste emissions and recycling can ink with the importance of using less packaging