Environmental Recycling Benefits and Facts
The EPA encourages recycling to help reduce the need for landfilling, to decrease pollution caused by manufacturing, to save energy and to conserve natural resources.
Reduce Waste:
The degradation of aluminum in a landfill takes an estimated 400 years. For plastic, degradation takes an estimated 1,000 years. Glass remains in a landfill for an estimated 1,000,000 years. The waste and pollution created when we do not recycle is astonishing.
Reduce Pollution and Preserve Natural Resources:
Recycling uses less fuel and less energy than making products from raw materials. That equals a preservation of oil and energy. It also reduces the gases that are emitted into the air from factories and manufacturing plants. These gases travel into the atmosphere and destroy our air quality, change the ecological balance and affect weather patterns.
Our health and our happiness depend on our environment. The health and happiness of future generations also depend on the environment. In turn, our environment depends on us to care for it. One way we can do this is by recycling.