• Each American produces an average of 4.4 pounds of trash each day. Over 179 million tons of trash is dumped into the country’s landfills each year. To help lessen your impact, recycle paper, plastics, glass and other materials.

• Recycling just one cell phone by each cell phone user in the U.S. Would reclaim enough precious metals to create 631 solid gold replicas of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen's funeral mask.

• If every newspaper reader in the U.S. Recycled just one typical Sunday paper, he or she could help create 212 million pounds of cellulose insulation – enough to insulate 118,767 homes.

• If the thermostats in every house in the U.S. were lowered by 1 degree Fahrenheit during the winter, the nation would save 230 million barrels of crude oil – enough to fill an oil taker 400 times, or roughly the amount of oil being imported into the U.S. from Iraq each year.

• One gallon of used oil – the amount from a small car engine – can pollute 1 million gallons of fresh water and create an 8-acre oil slick. Each year, nearly 200 million gallons of used oil are illegally dumped on the ground, tossed in trashcans or poured down storm drains and sewers.

• If 40 million people spent 1 minute less each day in the shower over their lifetimes, they would save 4 trillion gallons of water – the total amount of snow and rain that falls over the entire lower 48 states in a day.

• If people who live in the Atlanta, GA area and drive to work daily would telecommute just one day a year instead, they would save more then $50 million in gas. A $50 million savings would be enough to buy a compact fluorescent bulb for the desk lamps of every college student in the U.S.

• One soft drink can recycled by each elementary school student in the U.S. would save 24.8 million cans. That would be enough aluminum to create 21 Boeing 737 airplanes.

• If every American collected 1 gallon of water once a week while waiting for the shower or bathwater to get hot, the total saved would be 15.8 billion gallons of water a year – enough to fill the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., 2,338 times.

• One out of every three pounds of the waste that Americans generate is just for packaging, which each year adds up to 77 million tons – enough to fill the Louisianan Superdome in New Orleans 37 times.

• If 1 quart of leftover paint was recycled from every renovation project in the U.S. this year (10 percent of all the house paint purchased in the U.S. is typically thrown out), it would reclaim 2.5 million gallons – enough to paint the outside of the White House every year for the next 43 centuries, or to paint the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge 250 times.

• One hour of using a gas-operated leaf blower produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as a car driving 4,400 miles – that’s a round trip from Salt Lake City to New York City.

• If just one passenger per each flight in the world this year packed 1 pound less of luggage, the would save enough fuel to fly a Boeing 737 around the world 474 times.

• If one 20-mile trip per week was cut out (by combining errands) for every registered vehicle in the U.S., 145 million fewer tons of greenhouse gases would be released into the air each year. That’s equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 36 coal-fired power plants.

• This year the World Wildlife Fund held Earth Hour 2008 on March 29. If every American household turned off the lights for one hour at 8 p.m. local time, they would prevent more than 16,610 tons of carbon dioxide from being released – enough to fill every hot-air balloon at the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta seven times.

• Replacing just one 500-sheet roll of virgin toilet paper a year with one 500-sheet roll of 100 percent recycled paper in every American household would leave 424,000 trees standing.

• A hot water faucet that leaks one drop per second can add up to 165 gallons a month. That's more than one person uses in two weeks.

• A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 75 percent less energy than a regular bulb – and it can last up to four years.

• An automatic dishwasher uses less hot water than doing dishes by hand - an average of six gallons less, or more than 2,000 gallons per year.

• Every time you open the refrigerator door, up to 30 percent of the cold air can escape.

• Many electrical products – from televisions to chargers for cell phones – cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged. These products use electricity 24/7 in “standby” mode.
  

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