Recycling Impact Calculator

Calculate the carbon and energy saved by recycling household materials.

About Recycling Impact Calculator

Aluminium recycling saves an order of magnitude more carbon per kilogram than glass, because smelting from ore is extraordinarily energy intensive. A small mass of aluminium therefore often dominates the total saving. Contamination causes whole loads to be rejected, so putting the wrong item in the bin can negate the benefit of everything else in it.

Formula

Recycling Impact

Saving = Σ(mass × carbon saved per kg), reduced by the contamination rate

aluminium saving: About 9 kg CO2e per kg, by far the highest of common materials
contamination: Non-recyclable material that causes loads to be rejected

Worked example

With the default values below, Recycling Impact Calculator returns Annual Carbon Saved of 235.49. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Paper and card recycledminimum 0 kg: 8 kg
Plastic recycledminimum 0 kg: 3 kg
Glass recycledminimum 0 kg: 6 kg
Aluminium recycledminimum 0 kg: 0.8 kg
Contamination rateaccepts 0–60 %: 12 %

Results

Annual Carbon Saved: 235.49 kg CO2e
Annual Energy Saved: 952.5 kWh
Annual Material Recycled: 213.60 kg
Share of Saving From Aluminium: 32.29%
Carbon Saving Lost to Contamination: 32.11 kg CO2e

Step by step

1Values used
2Recycling Impact
3Annual Carbon Saved= 235.49 kg CO2e
4Annual Energy Saved= 952.5 kWh
5Annual Material Recycled= 213.60 kg
6Share of Saving From Aluminium= 32.29
7Carbon Saving Lost to Contamination= 32.11 kg CO2e

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Recycling Impact calculated?

Saving = Σ(mass × carbon saved per kg), reduced by the contamination rate Aluminium recycling saves an order of magnitude more carbon per kilogram than glass, because smelting from ore is extraordinarily energy intensive. A small mass of aluminium therefore often dominates the total saving.

Why does Recycling Impact matter?

Contamination causes whole loads to be rejected, so putting the wrong item in the bin can negate the benefit of everything else in it.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Paper and card recycled, Plastic recycled, Glass recycled, Aluminium recycled, Contamination rate. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.