Misc Visuals

What Really Happens When You Recycle?

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Most of us do our best to recycle when we can. From cardboard boxes to plastic drink containers, doing our part to recycle reduces waste and helps protect our planet. Is what we’re doing enough to offset the impact of wasteful materials on the environment? And how does single-stream recycling really work?

The visualization below created by O.Berk outlines what happens after you put paper, plastic, aluminum, and steel in the recycling bin.

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what-happens-when-recycle-chartistry

The graphic utilizes a flow chart to visualize how different materials are recycled based on a single-stream recycling process, which is where recyclables of all different types are placed in the same bin and sorted later at the facility. There are a number of processes that help sort materials at the recycling center:

    • Rotary screen separators help to sort paper products by pushing them up to wheels with air. The paper products stay up while the heavier objects fall to another conveyor belt underneath.
    • Cross belt magnets attract steel and other iron-containing metals to separate them from the rest.
    • Air classifiers are fans that push light products (such as plastic and aluminum) towards a conveyor belt above. Glass products fall to a conveyor belt below where they are then recycled.
    • Eddy current separators are spinning drums that create magnetic field that helps magnetize aluminum and push it towards a conveyor belt.
    • Infrared sensors use light reflection to determine different types of plastics. Then, a puff of air helps push them onto the correct conveyor belt based on the number indicated on the product.

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Charts

Mapping Rates of Drowsy Driving

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This map from NapLab highlights the locations with the highest instances of drowsy driving. This is such an important topic to study and gather data on. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that in 2022, 693 people died in drowsy-driving-related crashes. Many people push their limits behind the wheel when they’re tired. After all, if you’re exhausted while traveling, nothing sounds more appealing than hurrying home to your warm, familiar bed. But maps like this one illustrate just how risky this decision can be.

The team at NapLab studied fatalities in drowsy driving accidents, adjusted rates by population density and then mapped out the locations that had the most accidents. Here are their findings.

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For counties with 150,000-500,000 residents:

  1. Bastrop County, TX: 20.72 fatalities per 100,000
  2. Coconino County, AZ: 13.19 fatalities per 100,000
  3. Midland County, TX: 20 11.63 fatalities per 100,000
  4. Hunt County, TX: 10.16 fatalities per 100,000
  5. Liberty County, TX: 9.80 fatalities per 100,000

For counties with 25,000-150,000 people:

  1. Gillespie, TX: 40.03 per 100,000
  2. Milam, TX: 1039.02 per 100,000
  3. Walker, AL: 2132.64 per 100,000
  4. Cass, TX: 931.54 per 100,000
  5. Sweetwater, WY: 31.44 per 100,000

For counties with populations of 5,000 to 25,000:

  1. Pecos, TX: 190.02 per 100,000
  2. Reeves, TX: 178.23 per 100,000
  3. Madison, TX: 157.23 per 100,000
  4. Refugio, TX: 150.78 per 100,000
  5. Winkler, TX: 150.56 per 100,000

Texas counties topped most of the of the lists, which might be due to dark, quiet rural highways lulling drivers to sleep.

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Charts

The 50 States Ranked by How Appealing They Are for Boating

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Boat lovers have a new way to pick their dream destination with this chart ranking states by how desirable they are for boaters. The SI Yachts team used a detailed scoring system to rank these states. The system considers some of the major factors important to boaters like average temperatures, number of sunny and cloudy days, amount of coastline, lakes, and rivers, hurricane risk, number of boats owned in the state, and the average cost of boater’s insurance. All these factors, averaged together, created the team’s ultimate list of boating states.

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Despite the hurricane risks, Louisiana still comes out on top as the best state for boating. Miles and miles of coastline and waterways, low swampy areas, and a fishing legacy make boating a way of life in the Bayou State. As for the bottom of the list, New York was not the Empire State for boating. Expensive boater’s insurance and few days of ideal weather meant that despite this state’s abundance of lakes, rivers, and coastline, it just wasn’t an ideal place to own a boat.

Every boater has different priorities to guide where they want to set sail, but this chart is a great way to consider where you’ll find a boater’s paradise. There’s a great diversity of regions in the top states on this list so East or West, North or South, you’ll find the perfect boating destination.

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Charts

How Many Crayola Crayon Colors Are There? A Lot.

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This may be the most colorful visualization of history we’ve ever seen! This chart shows every single color of Crayola crayon ever made. Given the company’s long history, that’s an impressive and long list of colors! Over the years they’ve made many special and limited editions sets of crayons, so you may not have realized that the company has made over 400 crayon colors. And yet, it’s true! Since the first set of crayons was made back in 1903 with a simple set of 8 colors, the company has become a childhood staple and experimented with all kinds of different colors, styles, and twists on the wax crayon. You can see it for yourself on the visualization:

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how-many-crayola-crayon-colors-chartistry

Scanning over these colors is a real trip down memory lane. Crayola doesn’t have all these colors in circulation anymore. You might remember glitter crayons from childhood or the neon set. Or what about scented crayons that smelled good enough to eat? Many people feel nostalgic over the smell of Crayola’s which comes from a substance called stearic acid, which is derived from beef fat. Unfortunately, you can’t buy every color in the graph fresh and new (though plenty of people sell them used for collectors.) Crayola does sell a huge set of 120 crayons for a well-rounded set of what they offer. Only the most avid collectors might experience all 400 colors, but we can come close with the colorful visual of the long history of Crayola!

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