Sam Cole wrote:
Hi. Does anyone have information on calculating resources saved through
recycling? (Trees saved, energy saved, water saved, etc.) What I really
need are references for these calculations.
Note that we (Environmental Defense Fund) has a number of papers that
address this issue in quantitative detail. Go to our Recycling page at
"http://www.edf.org/issues/Recycling.html". Note in particular the link to
"Environmental Life-Cycle Comparisons of Recycling, Landfilling and
Incineration" This is a peer-reviewed, fully-referenced paper from the
Annual Review of Energy and the Environment that I authored. It documents
the major environmental advantages of recycling compared to disposal using
landfilling and incineration, reviewing all major studies on the topic, and
quantifies the benefits of recycling with respect to reductions in energy
use, solid waste generation and air and water pollution.
Hope this helps.