The 7 main benefits of recycling

Recycling is a process, a series of activities, so to speak, including: the collection and sorting of waste materials, the processing of these materials to produce new products, and the purchase and use of these new products by consumers. .

Recycling is more optimized and efficient if we practice the three R’s of waste management: reduce, reuse, recycle.

The reduction of waste that would otherwise be taken to recycling centers or landfills is achieved through an intentional decrease in our purchases and consumption, the composting of organic waste, and the outright refusal to use disposable items such as polystyrene and bags. of plastic. The reuse of materials serves to extend the use of a particular item. Examples of this are: reusing glass bottles in artistic lampshades, handing your old cell phones to family or friends for reuse, and recycling street trash cans in community tubs.

But why recycle? Why go through all the trouble of recycling your garbage? How does recycling benefit us and the environment?

Let’s review the benefits of recycling:

Recycling helps protect the environment

Recycling dramatically reduces the amount of waste that is dumped in our landfills or burned in incineration plants. Engineered landfills in most cities are designed to contain toxic chemicals that escape from decaying solid waste into our water systems. But for how long? We are already receiving reports of dangerous chemicals polluting water supplies in some cities. Burning solid waste to generate electricity can be efficient, but we pay the price in terms of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling helps conserve limited resources

To put this benefit in proper perspective, consider this statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: “By recycling more than 1 million tons of steel in 2004, Pennsylvanians saved 1.3 million tons of iron ore, 718,000 tons of coal and 62,000 tons of limestone. By recycling newsprint, office paper and mixed paper, we saved almost more than 8.2 million trees. “

Resources like oil and precious metals (gold, silver, bauxite, copper, etc.) are finite resources that will sooner or later be depleted. Manufacturers of cell phones and computers, such as Dell and Apple, recognize the need for a constant supply of raw materials; most participate in buyback programs to recycle used product materials.

Recycling promotes energy efficiency

Recycling is much more efficient, in terms of energy consumption, than producing something from fresh raw materials. Done on a national scale, this could lead to a significant reduction in our energy costs. The energy required to extract, process, and transport metal from a mine to a refinery is obviously much greater than that required to recycle metal from used products; it costs more energy to make a new aluminum can from fresh material than it does to make 20 cans. of recycled materials!

Recycling helps build a strong economy

Every cost reduction, energy efficiency, material conservation, and job creation benefit from recycling adds up to help build a strong economy for our country. Recycling, carried out on a national scale, has a huge positive impact on the economy. There was a drop in the price of recyclables last year when the financial crisis began, but it is a testament to the resilience of this industry that prices have now returned to pre-crisis levels, a recovery that is far ahead. from most other industries. Jobs are being created and city and town governments are enjoying huge savings in electricity, garbage collection and landfill costs.

Recycling creates jobs

Recycling creates more jobs than landfilling or incineration of waste. That is a benefit that we cannot lose sight of, at this time of recession and high unemployment rate. Consider the disposal of 10,000 tons of solid waste: burning it to generate electricity will generate 1 job; collecting it and dumping it in a landfill will create 6 jobs; Processing waste for recycling will generate 36 jobs!

Recycling builds a community

People come together and build communities around common causes, issues, and advocates. Recycling is no different. In many neighborhoods and cities across the country, we see concerned citizens working together on recycling initiatives, environmental lobbyists, and free recycling groups. If you are new to recycling or advocating for the environment, find a local group to work with. Staying the course is more fun and rewarding when other enthusiasts cheer on you.

Recycling can be financially rewarding

If you just want to make money to survive these tough times or start a home business, recycling is a profitable option. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to start a home recycling business. You just need to plan what material (cell phone, paper or metals, etc.) you intend to collect, plan for storage, contact the recycling plant for prices, and you are ready to start collecting recyclables and reselling them for recycling. installation with a decent profit. The great recycling giants in the US started as home-based businesses years ago; you can do it too; those guys simply recognized the enormous potential of this business long before the crowd.

The benefits of recycling for each of us, for society and the environment are our compelling reasons why we recycle. For many of us, recycling has become second nature, a way of life. It is a small but extremely vital component of environmental protection; without recycling, all of our efforts to protect the planet will be less effective, even useless. Let’s all continue recycling.