reduce pollution
Recycling helps reduce pollution. Through recycling and reusing rubbish, less rubbish is burned which in turn leads to less harmful gases entering the air and ozone layers. These gases lead to many respiratory diseases and can have terrible effects on the environment. When rubbish finds its way into the ocean and wilderness it could kill marine life and wildlife, things like glass can cause veld fires which can cause a large amount of damage. That is why every time we reduce, reuse and recycle our rubbish, we have the opportunity to save the earth and even millions of lives from the harmful effects of pollution.
preserve our natural resources
Recycling can help preserve our natural resources. Just picture the amount of trees that are cut down every year to supply the world’s need of paper and wood! By recycling paper products such as newspapers and books, we can reduce the amount of trees cut down each year and save forests from being destroyed. Trees and paper are just one example, the same principle applies to many other resources such as metal, rubber and glass. These resources are not infinitely abundant and we need to preserve them for future generations.
job creation
Recycling creates jobs. From collecting rubbish, separating it, transporting it and finally to recycling it into useable products, people are given the opportunity to help save the environment and at the same time earn money for a living.
cuts costs and saves resources
Recycling cuts costs and saves resources. It helps reduce the amount of materials that are wasted or thrown in landfills such as paper, plastic, glass, and aluminium. This also helps companies to rely less on raw materials, which requires more energy for manufacturing a new product. For instance, recycling plastic material requires less energy than having it produced from raw materials. This is more cost-effective and environment-friendly because carbon emissions are lessened and energy use is greatly reduced.
recycling fun facts
Aluminium cans are virtually 100% recyclable and when recycled each can saves 95% of the energy needed to recreate that can from bauxite ore. Recycling a six pack of cans saves enough energy to drive an average car 8 kilometres and recycling your aluminium cans means less environmentally harmful mining while saving money and energy.
Glass bottles contain around 25% recycled glass and glass is eternally recyclable. Recycling a ton of glass saves the equivalent amount of energy as 38 litres of oil.
Recycling a 2 meter stack of newspapers is equivalent to saving one 35 foot high tree. Each ton of recycled paper saves the same amount of energy as is contained in 4 barrels of oil. Consider whether you need to take the paper as many of us now get our information online and make sure to unsubscribe to needless magazines and block all your direct mail spam.
Plastics are made from petroleum and account for 7% – 8% of all fossil fuels consumed each year. One recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours. Use reusable plastic water containers to lessen your plastic bottle consumption and lower your drinking water costs.