Mabon 1999 Newsletter Let’s banish waste!

• It is estimated that every day the world burns an amount of fuel energy that took the planet 10,000 days to produce.
• Between 1970 and 1990, the per person energy consumption in Australia rose 55% (10% more than the global average)
• Energy consumption in developing countries is increasing at rates between 7 and 10% annually.
• Municipal waste production in Australia is around 680 kilograms for each person each year (above average for developed countries); more than half our waste can be composted or recycled (around 500 kilograms per person)
• In 1991 Australia released 15.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person compared to the global average of onl4 4.2 tonnes per person.
• In NSW, 22% of animals that existed at the time of European settlement are now presumed extinct, and 41% are threatened; 2% of birds are extinct and 21% threatened; and 27% of amphibians are considered threatened.
• An average 100 watt light globe burning for 10 hours uses 1 kilowatt hour of electricity. Except in Tasmania, every kilowatt hour of electricity consumed means about 1 kilogram of the greenhouse gas CO2 has been released in to the atmosphere.
• Each tonne of paper dumped in landfill occupies approximately one cubic metre of increasingly valuable space.

Source: down-to-earth officecare - A practical guide to environmental action in the office, 1997 Fuji Xerox Australia Pty Ltd and the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW