What's So Great About Recycling?

Recycling is integral to living a ‘greener’ life, but many people don’t really understand the environmental benefits of separating their rubbish for this purpose. Whilst it is perhaps clear that the less we recycle the more landfill space we use, the other environmental plus points of recycling are less widely appreciated. And there are many plus points, all of which add up to recycling being a crucial activity in combating climate change.

The reduction of landfill is certainly important, with space running out and landfill gases contributing themselves to global warming. But in addition to this are a number of other very good reasons for not simply discarding everything we use. In terms of raw materials, recycling reduces the consumption of these, which can have a very positive environmental impact. Use of materials such as wood is causing serious environmental issues, so recycling paper products is an easy way to reduce this requirement. In addition, the energy expended in making products from ‘virgin’ materials is offer much greater than using recycled materials. For example, each tonne of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 4000KW of energy and 7000 gallons of water! And similar savings apply for other materials. Recycling one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes, whilst recycling two glass bottles saves enough to boil water for five cups of tea.

There are also added economic benefits of recycling. The recycling industry creates jobs when compared to landfilling rubbish, and income generated from selling second hand, and therefore recycled, products is vital for many charitable organisations.

So recycling is important, but is it easy? Well it is certainly getting easier as more and more rubbish is collected by local authorities in the UK for recycling. In addition, recycling centres are available in many communities for those items which would otherwise be destined for landfill sites. For other items, charity shops, online auction sites and car boot sales are a few of the options open to us, often making us money in the process.

Recycling has many benefits, not least those of an environmental nature. And with global warming reaching crisis point, every little helps.

Hayley_Jones