If the United States could encourage its citizens to recycle 50 percent of the plastic bottles manufactured, how many total pounds of plastic bottles would be recycled?

If the United States could encourage their citizens to recycle 50 percent of the plastic bottles manufactured, they would recycle a total of 947,000 pounds (1,894,000 x 50% = 947,000). If you thought the answer was 992,819 pounds, you must read the question and compare it to the data, as the question was not asking you for an additional amount that would be recycled, it was asking you for 50 percent of the total manufactured pounds.