Tag: Fun Facts

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. Back to school sales are the second highest consumer spending period for retailers behind the winter holidays. The average family with children in grades K-12 reportedly spends nearly $700 on back to school items. When adding the K-12 sales to college spending, the total sales are expected to reach over $80 billion.
2. In the US, roughly 480,000 school buses bring students to and from school every day. Cumulatively, these drivers log about 5.8 billion miles each year and save communities an estimated $7.7 billion that would have been realized if these students rode to school in private vehicles. 

3. The cost of a four-year education has more than doubled (real values) from 1980 to 2010. The average price of a 4-year education in the US is just over $32,000.
4. On average, school systems spend just over $11,000 on each of the 50 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools. In the upcoming school year, this is anticipated to hit around $570 billion in total.
5. In 2011, about 32 million students participated in the National School Lunch Program at a total cost of nearly $11.1 billion.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. The Federal Railroad Administration reports that there were nearly 1,500 train derailments in all of 2011. From January to April of this year, there were 389 derailments, which is an improvement when compared to more than 500 during the same period last year.
2. 3.6 million pounds of retired US currency gets shredded annually. Ford is looking for ways to use this material to reinforce plastics used for interior trim in their automobiles. This will help offset some of the estimated 300 pounds of plastic used in the average car.

3. Over 10 million tons of waste is generated every year by the 78 million dogs living in the US. Dog waste carries parasites that can be transmitted directly to humans. Two or three days worth of droppings from just 100 or so of these canines can contribute enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay and all watershed areas within a 20 mile radius of the waste.
4. Facebook generated 285,000 metric tons of GHG emissions in 2011. The same impacts could be realized from all Facebook users consuming about 3 bananas over the course of the year.
5. In 2011, the US Postal Service processed 167.9 billion pieces of mail, racking up 1.2 billion miles driven by letter carriers and truck drivers. This equates to about 48,000 trips around the world or 2,500 round trips to the moon.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. The average vehicle is immobile roughly 95% of the time. This requires about 600 million parking spots worldwide, which is an issue addressed in Eran Ben-Joseph’s book Rethinking a Lot.
2. Some 98% of conventional apples have detectable levels of pesticides. This is some of the latest information observed in the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

3. Hydroelectricity accounted for roughly 16% of global electricity generation in 2011. Hydropower has been steadily increasing over the last four decades and produced 3.5 trillion kWh of electricity last year. The average US home uses about 11,500 kWh of electricity annually.
4. Americans consume an estimated 20 billion hot dogs a year. Independence Day accounts for about 150 million of these.
5. In 2010, fireworks caused an estimated 15,500 reported fires, eight reported civilian deaths, and roughly $36 million in direct property damage. There are additional concerns associated with potential exposure to the chemicals and toxins used to create these awe inspiring explosions. Happy 4^th of July!

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. This year is the 40^th anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Environment Day. Celebrated every June 5^th, this year’s theme is “Green Economy: Does it include YOU?”
2. The US consumed 9.1 billion gallons of bottled water in 2011. This equates to roughly $11 billion in producer revenues.

3. In the last 20 years, the amount of US households with air conditioners has increased from 68% to 87%. It is estimated that $15 billion is spent on energy used to power air conditioners.
4. A recent survey commissioned by Call2Recycle indicates that 57% of Americans have old electronics that they need to discard. The largest barrier to recycling e-waste identified in the survey was not knowing where or how to recycle a product.

5. It is reported that men use between 3 and 10 gallons of water every time they shave. If you ever needed an excuse to grow a beard and help one of the most water dependent industries save water, Budweiser’s “Grow one. Save a Million” campaign may be for you.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. During the SPC Spring Meeting in Toronto last month, I was surprised to learn that about 1/3 of all food produced for human consumption is either wasted or lost. This equates to roughly 1.3 billion tons of food waste. North America is reportedly the highest contributor at nearly 300 kg/per capita/yr with roughly 100 kg attributable to consumer waste. Grist has a few suggestions on what to do with your spoils at home.

2. PayScale recently ranked 850 US colleges by 30-year net return on investment. Harvey Mudd College, Caltech, and MIT round out the top three, and while ROI may not be the best performance metric, it provides an interesting perspective on college education.
3. May is National Bike Month. It is estimated that 0.5% of US workers commute to work on bicycles. Over 85% of people reportedly drive to work (with an average of 1.07 workers per vehicle), about 5% of workers utilize public transportation, and about 3% walk.
4. “There are more Barbie dolls on the planet than there are Americans.” This fun fact came to me in a preview of a new documentary project titled “Do I Need This,” of which the underlying theme is to get consumers to make more conscious purchasing decisions.
5. Employee stress results in roughly $300 billion in lost productivity annually. Adequate sleep, regular exercise, exposure to green space, five minute breaks every hour, and setting aside time for vacations can all help lower this number.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the liquid refreshment beverage market grew for the second consecutive year to 29.5 billion gallons in 2011.  Energy drinks showed the highest growth rate from 2010 at just over 14%.
2. It is believed that nearly 200 million eggs (~17 million dozen) were purchased for Easter celebrations last year. This is dwarf by the 90 billion (~7.6 billion dozen) produced in 2010.

3. March 22 marked the 19^th annual World Water Day. Nearly 900 million people currently lack access to clean water, and this number is expected to increase to 2/3 of the world’s population by 2025.  Here are other fun facts around water demand:

• The average American household uses 350 gallons of water a day

• Making a pair of blue jeans requires nearly 2,900 gallons of water

• It takes three liters of water to make a one liter of water bottle (before the water is added)

4. Each second, 330 people buy something from a Wal-Mart store. At 2.1 million employees world-wide – this is roughly the cumulative population of the 50 smallest countries.
5. Data from the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup revealed that over nine million pounds of trash were collected along shorelines around the World. Cigarettes, caps and lids, and plastic bottles were the top three most commonly collected items.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. Meat content in fast food hamburgers ranges between 2-14% on average. The other 85-98% includes fillers like: blood vessels, nerves, cartilage, and chemicals like ammonia to control bacteria.
2. One glass of beer (250 ml) requires about 20 gallons of water. Most of the water is used to produce the barley. Approximately 203,576,450 barrels of beer were sold US in 2010. At roughly 31 gallons a barrel and 3.79 liters per gallon, this equates to roughly 2 trillion gallons of water used to produce the beer sold in the US. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

3. The average American uses 40 pounds of toxic cleaning productseach year. Over 90% of all human poison exposure occurs in a patient’s own home. The substances most frequently involved include painkillers, cosmetics, and household cleaning products.
4. Cities are spending approximately $2,000 per trash can every year to collect waste. In the US, garbage trucks consume about 1.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel.

5. A recent report released by KPMG International Cooperative examines industry revenue (EBITA) with potential environmental costs. The study finds the highest environmental costs among food producers ($200 billion). Looking back to 2002 levels, this was the only sector observed where environmental cost growth rates exceeded revenue growth. Over the same time period, the automobile industry was the only sector with a reported negative growth rate for environmental cost. The report goes on to state that if industries were forced to internalize these costs, revenues could be cut by 40%.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. Thirty- two million kids participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. Though I haven’t had a chance to read through the 280-page document, the Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs are said to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains. Expect to see more sauce stains.
2. The US installed enough turbines to generate roughly 6,810 MW of energy in 2011. Cumulative US wind capacity is just below 47,000 MW. One MW can power approximately 250 homes for a year. These pictures are from a recent Essentials of Sustainable Packaging course road trip that drove past a wind farm and a nearby storage location for turbine parts.

3. Making a 0.07 ounce microchip uses 66 pounds of material. Some of which are toxins, flame retardants, and chlorinated solvents.
4. Novo Nordisk, a company out of Denmark, was ranked the number 1 company on the Global 100 sustainability list. Life Technologies Corp was the highest ranking US company rounding out the top 15.
5. The Greeting Card Association estimates 150 million greeting cards were sold for Valentine’s Day in the US. I can’t remember too many greeting cards I’ve purchased or received. So much for those lasting impressions.

Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here.
1. In 2011, Call2Recycle collected more than 7.6 million pounds of rechargeable batteries from small electronics, tools, and mobile devices. This figure includes nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, and small sealed lead acid batteries under 11 lbs. This equates to nearly 122 million AA batteries… that’s a lot of channel surfing.

2. Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are pollutants that have been shown to negatively impact wildlife and humans. According to the FDA, over 95% of dioxin exposure comes from the consumption of animal fats.
3. Over 1,500 US power plants reported 2,324 MMT CO₂E emissions in 2010. This information is mapped and compared to emissions from refineries, metals, minerals, and pulp and paper sectors in an interactive info graphic produced by the EPA.
4. Fryer oil is currently selling at $0.40/pound and is often purchased from restaurants to be processed into biofuels or animal feed. As it turns out, $0.40 is the price that makes used grease appealing to thieves and causing problems for local authorities. Without political support for corn-based ethanol, what should we expect for the future of biofuels?

5. According to a recent report from the National Research Council, roughly 12 billion gallons of municipal wastewater effluent is released into an ocean or estuary daily. The report emphasizes municipal wastewater reuse, and recognizes the potential to increase water availability.