Top 4 Benefits of Recycling

 

Recycling is a series of the process consists of collecting and sorting of waste materials, processing of these materials to produce new products and use them instead of other by products. Recycling is more optimized and efficient if we practice the three R's of waste management: reduce, reuse, and recycle. But, why Recycle? Why go through all the hard recycling and take time to sort and process for garbage? Why it is important and how it benefits us and the environment? Let’s see what the top benefits of recycling are.

Recycling Helps Protect The Environment

Recycling sharply reduces the amount of waste that gets deposited in our landfills or burned in incinerator plants. Engineered landfills in most cities are designed to contain toxic chemicals leaking from decaying solid waste from reaching our water systems. Burning solid waste for electricity may be efficient, but we pay the price in terms of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling Helps Conserve Limited Resources

Resources like oil and precious metals (gold, silver, bauxite, copper, etc.) are all finite resources that will be exhausted, sooner or later. Cell phone and computer manufacturers, like Dell and Apple, recognize the need for a steady supply of raw materials - most are active in buy-back programs to recycle materials from used products. So recycling helps to converse the limited resources.

Recycling Promotes Energy Efficiency

Recycling is far more efficient, in terms of energy consumption than producing something out of fresh raw material. Done on a nationwide 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 much greater than what's required to recycle metal from used products - it costs more energy to manufacture a brand new aluminum can from fresh material than to make 20 cans out of recycled materials!

Recycling Creates Jobs and Builds Community

Recycling generates more jobs than landfilling or incinerating waste. That's a benefit we can't lose sight of, in this time of recession and high unemployment rate. People band together and build communities around common causes, issues, and advocacies. Recycling is no different. In many neighborhoods and cities across the country, we see concerned citizens working together in recycling initiatives, environment lobby groups, and free recycling groups. If you're new to recycling or environmental advocacy, go find a local group to work with.