Blank Fact Sheet

Below is a blank template of the Environmental Benefits Fact Sheet. The Fact Sheet summarizes the results of the inputs to NERC's Environmental Benefits Calculator by presenting the more important benefits of source reduction, reuse and recycling. It is intended to be used as a tool for educating the public, legislators, and state and municipal employees about the impact and benefits of sustainable waste management strategies. It is also intended as a reference for developing outreach materials (i.e., press releases, presentation slides, educational curricula, and articles) by waste prevention officials and advocates.

For instructions on filling out the Fact Sheet:  The Fact Sheet is automated through Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge Feature.  To create your area’s data-specific Fact Sheet, first download the Calculator in Microsoft Excel format and the Fact Sheet in Microsoft Word. NOTE: When opening the Fact Sheet in MS Word, you may encounter two dialogue boxes. In the first dialogue box, choose the option to open the document in Microsoft Office Word. The second dialogue box may say, "Opening this document will run the following SQL command . . ." Do not select either option; instead, close this dialogue box by clicking on the "X" in the upper right corner of the box.

Fill out your area’s Calculator, then open the blank Fact Sheet in Word.   In Word, display your Mail Merge toolbar by selecting "View" and then "Toolbars." From your Mail Merge toolbar, click on "Open Data Source."  Select the Calculator Excel file.  Select "Wksh 5. Fact Sheet Outputs" worksheet.  Again from your Mail Merge toolbar, click on "Merge to New Document."  (Please note there are other routes to completing the mail merge through the main Word toolbar under "Tools." Read through the resulting Fact Sheet and edit it to fit your circumstances and the data you entered.  For example, if you did not enter any source reduction or reuse figures, delete these references.)

Introduction

Most people are aware that source reduction, reuse, and recycling decreases reliance on landfills, incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities.  These waste reduction strategies are also critical for protecting the global environment.  By reducing the need for "virgin" resources extracted from forests, oil reserves, and mines, we use less energy, reduce greenhouse gases, water pollutants, and conserve natural resources.

Reducing energy use decreases greenhouse gas emissions because the majority of consumed energy in the United States relies on fossil fuels (i.e., gasoline, diesel, natural gas and coal).  Fossil fuels are the most significant source of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions.  Energy conservation also minimizes the need for energy development and production, which are also responsible for significant environmental impacts.

Source reduction, reuse, and recycling keep materials out of landfills, incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities, where water and air contamination can result from leachate, air emissions, and ash residue.

By contrast, the steps required to supply recycled materials to industry (i.e., collection, processing and transportation) uses less energy than the steps in supplying virgin materials (i.e., extraction, refining, processing, and transportation). The majority of the energy savings associated with the use of recycled content materials in manufacturing is the result of avoided processing, because recycled materials have already been processed at least once.   

NERC’s Environmental Benefits Calculator generates estimates of the environmental benefits of [Area Name], based on the tonnages of materials that were source reduced, reused, recycled, landfilled, or incinerated (includes waste-to-energy).  The Calculator is based on per ton figures of the estimated energy use and emissions from several lifecycle analysis studies.  The Calculator tailors the results to the amount of materials source reduced, reused, and recycled; as well as the current mix of landfilling, incineration/waste-to-energy in [Area Name].  This Fact Sheet summarizes some of the results from the Calculator specific to [Area Name].  

[AREA NAME] [year]

• [Area Name]’s recycling provided industry with an environmentally preferable source of materials.

[Area name]’s municipal and commercial recycling programs collected and supplied X tons of scrap commodities such as paper, glass, metals, plastics, wood, computers, and construction & demolition (C&D) materials for use in the production of new products.

• Greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by [Area Name] source reduction, reuse, and recycling.

[Area Name]’s source reduction, reuse and recycling reduced greenhouse gas emissions by X metric tons of carbon equivalents (MTCE)⁴ in a one year period.  This is equivalent to approximately X% of all industrial MTCE emissions generated from fossil fuel combustion in [State] and X% of greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Curbside recycling alone accounted for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of X MTCE per year.

• [Area Name]’s source reduction, reuse, and recycling saved energy.

[Area Name]’s source reduction, reuse, and recycling saved a total of X Million BTUs of energy, equal to X% of all energy used by industry in [State].  This is equivalent to X gallons of gasoline.  It represents the amount of energy that would be required to power X homes for one year in [Area Name].   Curbside recycling alone saved X Million BTUs of energy.

• [Area Name]’s recycling conserved natural resources.

By recycling X tons of scrap metal and glass in [year], [Area Name]’s recycling efforts reduced the need for virgin materials, including X tons of limestone, X tons of iron ore, X tons of coal, X tons of sand, X tons of soda ash, and X tons of feldspar.  Recycling X tons of newspapers, phone books, office paper, textbooks, magazines, and cardboard in [year], resulting in forest carbon sequestration benefits equal to X tree seedlings grown for 10 years.  Recycling X tons of all types of paper saved X cubic yards of landfill space.

All data reported in this Fact Sheet was calculated from the NERC Environmental Benefits Calculator, [year].  For more detail about the specific environmental benefits attributable to source reduction, reuse, and recycling in [Area name] and for NERC’s free downloadable Calculator, see www.nerc.org. 

¹ Source reduction and reuse are defined as activities that reduce the need for the production of virgin materials. Examples of source reduction and reuse are light-weighting (e.g. using 25 percent less aluminum to produce the same product), the reuse of a material (e.g. dismantling a building and reusing the 2x4 studs in a new structure).  Other examples include book swaps and computer donations (assumes that new books and new computers would have been needed without these actions). For the purpose of measuring the environmental impacts of these activities, source reduction and reuse are used interchangeably.

² Recycling is defined as the use of scrap or waste material used in place of virgin inputs in the manufacturing process.  When a Calculator user indicates that they are “recycling” they are referring to the act of setting the scrap or waste material aside for use in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, when Calculator users indicate that they are "recycling" materials like yard trimmings, food scraps, mixed organics, etc, U.S. EPA calculates the benefit of composting.   

³ The most recent data provided by the state environmental agency.

⁴Metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE) is a unit of measurement that expresses the heat-trapping effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Another unit of measure sometimes used is metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2).  Source: U.S. EPA (2004) User’s Guide for WARM: Calculating Greenhouse Gas Emissions with the WAste Reduction Model.  Available at: http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/
ActionsWasteWARMUsersGuide.html.