Why Recycle?

Recycling is one of the easiest things you can do to help the environment, and it has economic and social benefits in addition to its many environmental benefits.

Recycling:

• Saves natural resources
• Saves energy
• Keeps waste out of landfills
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduces air and water pollutant emissions
• Is good for the economy
• Is good for businesses
• Is mandatory
• Benefits communities and individuals
• Is a way that you can make a difference

Because recycling is so simple and has so many benefits, it is important to participate at home, work, school, and everywhere else you go. Pennsylvanians recycled 4.7 million tons of material in 2004.

Recycling saves natural resources

The available supply of natural resources is limited, and a high rate of using and disposing of products and packaging means a high demand for these resources. Since recycling decreases the amount of new materials needed, it reduces the demand for natural resources and the impact of extracting and using them. Recycling reduces the need for logging and mining, which cause habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and soil erosion.

Pennsylvania DEP reports that by recycling over 1.1 million tons of steel in 2005, Pennsylvania industries saved 1.4 million tons of iron ore, 829,786 tons of coal and 71,124 tons of limestone. By recycling newsprint, office paper and mixed paper, Pennsylvanians saved the equivalent of 78 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years. According to the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), recycled paper supplies more than 37% of the raw materials used to make new paper products in the US.

Recycling saves energy

Fossil fuels, which provide much of the world's energy, are nonrenewable resources. The steps involved in supplying recovered materials to industry typically use less energy than the steps for supplying virgin materials. In addition, recovered materials have already been processed, so less energy is needed than for processing new materials. Even if trash is sent to a waste-to-energy facility, the amount of energy produced is less than the amount that could be saved by recycling the materials.

The amount of energy saved varies by material. It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than to make it from raw materials, 60% less energy to recycle steel, 40% less energy to recycle newspaper, and 70% less energy to recycle plastic. Pennsylvania DEP reports that recycling in Pennsylvania saves enough energy each year to power 941,000 homes. According to the EPA, in 2000, recycling in the United States resulted in an annual energy savings equal to the amount of energy used in 6 million homes.

Recycling keeps waste out of landfills

When you throw something in the trash, it often goes to a landfill. Landfills take up large amounts of space, and trash in them takes a long time to decompose. Reducing the amount of trash sent to landfills means the limited space available in them will last longer, and fewer new landfills will need to be built. If there is less need for landfills, more space remains available for farming, living, and working, and more land can be left natural. According to the National Recycling Coalition, recycling and composting diverted nearly 70 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2000.

Recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are emitted when fossil fuels are burned to produce energy and when waste decays in landfills or is incinerated. Using recycled materials requires less energy, so recycling avoids greenhouse gas emissions by lowering the amount of fuel that is burned. Since recycling decreases the amount of trash, it also reduces emissions from incinerators and landfills. Waste decaying in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is more powerful than carbon dioxide. In addition, recycling slows the harvest of trees, which are carbon sinks, meaning that they remove carbon dioxide from the air. In 2004, recycling reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2 million metric tons of carbon equivalent. A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.

Recycling reduces air and water pollutant emissions

Material extraction, refining, and processing of raw materials all produce air and water pollutants, such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, methane, sulfur dioxides, and many others. Recovered materials have already gone through these processes and do not need to go through them again, so recycling cuts down on these emissions. In addition to reductions in greenhouse gases, recycling results in reductions of air emissions totaling 587,000 tons and reductions of water emissions totaling nearly 9,000 tons.

Recycling is good for the economy

Recycling creates jobs, provides materials for use in manufacturing, and adds significant value to the US economy. Pennsylvania has 3,247 recycling and reuse establishments and 81,322 jobs in recycling and reuse, resulting in $18.4 billion in annual sales receipts and an annual payroll of $2.9 billion. The National Recycling Coalition reports that nationally, recycling creates 1.1 million jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales, and $37 billion in annual payrolls.

The jobs involved in recycling include:

• Collection and processing. The first step in recycling, this involves gathering and sorting recyclable materials. This part of the process provides jobs for municipal and private collectors, material recovery and compost facilities, and recyclable material wholesalers.
• Recycling manufacturing. This is the actual conversion of recyclable materials into products. Recycling manufacturers include steel mills, plastic converters, paper and paperboard mills, and nonferrous metal manufacturers.
• Reuse and remanufacturing. This part of the recycling process involves the refurbishing and repair of products so that they can be reused in their original form, rather than transforming their component materials into new items. Activities in this category include sales of used merchandise and reuse of used vehicle parts.
• Support businesses that provide goods and services to the recycling and reuse establishments. These businesses include recycling and reuse equipment manufacturers, consulting and engineering services, brokers, and transporters.

According to the National Recycling Coalition, recycling creates four times as many jobs as the waste management and disposal industries do.

Recycling is good for businesses

Recycling reduces the environmental impacts of industrial production by supplying industry with recovered materials that are environmentally preferable to virgin resources. Pennsylvania DEP reports that in 2005, Pennsylvania recycling programs supplied industry with over 4.8 million tons of commodities including metals, paper, glass, plastics, wood, and organics. Recycling offers many kinds of business opportunities, including collection and processing, manufacturing products with recycled content, and inventing new technologies.

According to the National Recycling Coalition, voluntary recycling programs have allowed thousands of companies in the United States to save millions of dollars. Well-run recycling programs cost less to operate than programs that deal with trash through collection, landfilling, and incineration, so business are often able to save money by recycling and producing less trash.

Recycling is mandatory

Recycling is mandatory in Pennsylvania communities with populations greater than 5000. Recycling programs are available in a total of about 1600 Pennsylvania communities.

Recycling benefits communities and individuals

The job creation, pollution reduction, and energy conservation that result from recycling all help to improve quality of life. Recycling contributes to leaving future generations a stronger economy, greater biodiversity, and less global climate change.

Recycling programs can save money for families and communities. Recycling programs often cost less than collecting trash for landfilling or incineration, and these savings can be used to improve local programs or can be passed along to residents through more direct methods such as reduced taxes. The more people recycle, the more cost-effective it becomes.

Recycling is a way that you can make a difference

Often, environmental problems seem too large and complex for individual efforts to have any influence on. A sense of inability to change things can be discouraging to people who want to do what they can for the environment. Recycling is a way that each of us can have some control over our environmental impact - we all control our own waste and have the ability to reduce the amount we throw away by recycling. Every bit of recycling makes a difference.