21 Impacts Americans are making on the planet:

1. Americans recycle or compost about 30% of their trash. Of the remaining 70%, fifteen percent is incinerated and 55% landfilled.Environmental Protection Agency
   
2. Glass takes more than one million years to decompose in our landfills. California Department of Conservation
   
3. Each American throws away an average of 100 polystyrene cups each year, and the expected lifetime of each cup is over 500 years.Green Seal's Choose Green Report, 1999 
   
4. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. Seventh Generation Co.
   
5. Within three years, Americans will be throwing away 130 million mobile phones per year, amounting to 65,000 tons of waste. This waste contains toxic chemicals such as arsenic, beryllium, copper, lead, cadmium, nickel, and zinc. These chemicals have been linked to cancer and neurological disorders. University of Colorado Recycling, 2003
   
6. The average U.S. household uses over 22,000 gallons of water per year just for showers and baths. Center for a New American Dream, 2003
   
7. A faucet that drips once each second can waste over 8 gallons of water per day and over 3150 gallons per year. American Water Works Association, 2003
   
8. Daily indoor per capita water use in the typical single-family home with no water-conserving fixtures is 74 gallons. American Water Works Association, 2003
   
9. Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months. Environmental Defense Fund 
   
10. About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 30%. Environmental Protection Agency 
    
11. The energy saved from recycling one aluminum can will operate a TV set for three hours. Tree People
    
12. The U.S. is 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of its natural resources. Environmental Protection Agency 
    
13. Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling. Colorado Recycles 
    
14. Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, and air pollution by 20%.Environmental Defense Fund
    
15. Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. Eco-Cycle
    
16. If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees--or about 26 million trees per year. California Department of Conservation
    
17. The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year - or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. Steel Recycling Institute 
    
18. There are 4-8 pounds of lead in every CRT computer monitor, and there is lead in most of the solder points in electronic product circuit boards. Between 1997 and 2004, 315 million computers became obsolete, along with millions of other electronic products. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 2004
    
19. A 150 watt personal computer system, (CPU, monitor, and printer) uses 1314kwh per year if left on continuously. To generate that much electricity, it takes the energy equivalent of more than 1000 pounds of coal or 100 gallons of oil. Planning for Higher Education Journal, 2003
    
20. The average American home contain more synthetic chemicals today than the average chemical plant 100 years ago. Windstar Foundation,
    
21. 70,000 synthetic chemicals are in production today. Many are suspected to cause cause or other health effects, but only 600 have been adequately tested. City of Boulder Office of Environmental Affairs, 2003