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Save Energy by Recycling
WARM Tool
The iWARM tool is based on the Waste Reduction Model (WARM), for solid waste planners and organizations. WARM can be used to calculate how much energy organizations can save and how much greenhouse gases they can avoid by recycling versus landfilling their waste.
Recycling everyday objects, such as paper, bottles, and magazines saves energy. The materials that you recycle are used to create the products you buy. This means less virgin material needs to be mined or harvested, processed, manufactured, and transported—all of which consume energy.
Saving energy also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more about how the things we throw away can affect climate change.
We created the Individual Waste Reduction Model (iWARM) to help you find out how much energy you can save when you recycle. The amount of energy saved is shown as the amount of time you can power an appliance. We used data from the iWARM model to create the Save Energy by Recycling web widget, which you can add to your website.
Full iWARM Tool
NEW MODEL VERSION: Updated June 2015
The full iWARM tool (121 K, Excel file), in spreadsheet form, offers more options (e.g. additional recyclables and appliances) than the web widget, but requires Microsoft Excel to use. Download the free Microsoft Excel Viewer.
For the iWARM tool to function properly, you must have Microsoft Excel security set to allow macros. Directions for enabling macros in different versions of Excel are provided below:
Excel 2003 and Earlier: Since iWARM employs macros, you must have Excel security set to medium (recommended) or low (not recommended). To change this setting, launch Microsoft Excel before opening iWARM. Once in Excel, go to the Tools menu, click on the Macro sub-menu, and then select “Security”. The Security pop-up box will appear. Click on the “Security Level” tab and select medium. When set to high, macros are automatically disabled; when set to medium, Excel will give you the choice to enable macros; when set to low, macros are always enabled. When Excel security is set to medium, users are asked upon opening iWARM whether to enable macros. Once they are enabled, iWARM will open.
Excel 2007 and Later: If Excel’s security settings are set at the default level a Security Warning appears above the formula box in Excel when iWARM is initially opened. The Security Warning lets the user know that some active content from the spreadsheet has been disabled, meaning that Excel has prevented the macros in the spreadsheet from functioning. Since iWARM needs macros in order to function properly, the user must click the “Options” button in the security message and then select, “Enable this content” in the pop-up box. Enabling the macro content for iWARM in this way only enables macros temporarily in Excel but does not change the macro security settings. If the Security Warning does not appear when iWARM is first opened, it may be necessary to change the security settings for macros. To change the setting, first exit out of iWARM and re-launch Microsoft Excel before opening iWARM. Next, click on the Microsoft Excel icon in the top left of the screen. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and select the “Excel Options” button to the right of the main menu. When the Excel Options box appears, select “Trust Center” in left hand menu of the box. Next, click the gray “Trust Center Settings” button. When the Trust Center options box appears, click "Macro Settings” in the left hand menu and select “Disable all macros with notification." Once the security level has been adjusted, open iWARM and enable macros in the manner described in the preceding paragraph.
iWARM Widget
We created the Individual Waste Reduction Model (iWARM) to help you find out how much energy you can save when you recycle. The amount of energy saved is shown as the amount of time you can power an appliance. We used data from the iWARM model to create the Save Energy by Recycling web widget, which you can add to your website.
Find the embed code for the widget at EPA’s iWarm Widget Page.