Keep Noblesville Beautiful Programs

Glass Recycling

Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable! The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or a compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials. A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose -- and even longer if it's in the landfill. For every ton of glass recycled, we save 1,330 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash, 380 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.

Plastic Recycling

Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away! For every ton of plastic recycled, we save 76 million BTU's of energy. It takes 1,050 milk jugs to make one 6-foot plastic lumber park bench. Plastic bottles can take over 1,000 years to decompose.

Aluminum Recycling

An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours -- or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline. Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled. When we recycle aluminum, we reduce energy use by 90% and air pollution by 95%. A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That's closed loop recycling at its finest!