Key facts and figures on recycling and waste

• Over the last five years, recycling rates across the UK have increased from an average 17 per cent to 34 per cent.
• Between 2003 and 2008, the 33.8 million tonnes of household waste sent for recycling would have filled the Royal Albert Hall more than 1,000 times.
• The 30 million tonnes of CO2 saved is equivalent to taking 9.4 million cars – or one third of all cars in Britain – off the road for one year.
• Last year, household recycling alone saved 6.5 million tonnes of CO2, which is the same as avoiding more than 1 million flights from London to Sydney.
• Last year household recycling, including aluminium, steel, glass and paper, amounted to 8.7 million tonnes.
• The 3.3 billion aluminium cans recycled last year, laid end to end would stretch around the world 10 times.
• The 8 billion steel food tins recycled last year is seven times the amount of steel used to build Wembley Stadium.
• Producing steel from recycled material saves 75 per cent of the energy needed if steel were made from virgin material. 2.1 billion glass wine bottles were recycled last year.
• 6.6 billion newspapers were recycled last year, nine out of every 10 sold in the UK.
• Each week the average family in a developed country, gets through 4 glass bottles or jars, 13 cans, 3 plastic bottles and 5 kilos of paper.
• Each UK household produces about 1 tonne of rubbish annually.
• Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3,500 showers or 5,000 hours of television.
• On average, every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks.