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Individual WAste Reduction Model (iWARM)
You will need Microsoft Excel Viewer to view the iWARM file on this page. Download the free Microsoft Excel Viewer.
EPA created the WAste Reduction Model (WARM) to help solid waste planners and organizations estimate the energy and greenhouse gas emissions reductions from several different waste management practices.
iWARM (individual WARM) (Excel) (338K, Excel file) is the consumer version of WARM – it helps you understand the energy saved by recycling small quantities of common household products, rather than landfilling them. iWARM uses the same energy factors as WARM to provide the relative energy savings from recycling rather than landfilling. The energy savings are translated into the equivalent amount of electricity, estimating how long that amount of electricity will operate a variety of household appliances.
iWARM estimates the energy benefits of recycling rather than landfilling the following products:
- Aluminum can (12 fl. oz.)
- Metal coat hanger
- Steel can (15.5 fl. oz.)
- Glass bottle (12 fl. oz.)
- Glass bottle (0.75 liter)
- Gallon plastic (HDPE) milk jug
- Gallon plastic (HDPE) detergent container
- Plastic grocery bag
- Plastic (PET) bottle (20 fl. oz.)
- Plastic (PET) bottle (2 liter)
- 2' x 2' x 2.5' corrugated cardbox, 3mm thick
- Weekly magazine
- Catalog
- Daily newspaper
- Sunday edition of newspaper
- 12-inch stack of newspaper
- Printer paper, 1 ream (500 sheets)
- White business envelope
- Paperboard Cereal box
iWARM translates the energy benefits into hours of operation of your:
- room air conditioner, ceiling fan and window fan
- clothes washer and dryer
- dishwasher, with and without the drying cycle
- 60 watt incandescent lightbulb, and the equivalent compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)
- Laptop computer
- 36” CRT television
- Hairdryer
For example, recycling an aluminum beverage can rather than landfilling it saves enough energy to operate a 60W incandescent lightbulb for 4.3 hours, or to operate the equivalent compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours.
Note
When the tool opens, the toolbars and menu options are hidden. However, the Excel environment is restored upon closing and should not affect other spreadsheets. If you would like to view the toolbars in other spreadsheets while the office carbon footprint tool is open, you can follow these steps to restore the Excel environment:
- Open iWARM
- Go to "Tool Options" on the top left menu bar (top of screen)
- Click on "Restore Excel Environment"
- When prompted for a password, click "cancel"
- The toolbar has now been restored
