Table of Contents Hide
- How Does Recycling Help the Environment?
- 1. Recycling Decreases the Size of Landfills
- 2. Energy Savings Thanks to Recycling
- 3. Recycling Means Fewer Greenhouse Gases
- 4. Conserve Natural Resources With Recycling
- 5. Recycling Results in Better Air Quality
- 6. Natural Habitats Can Thrive Thanks to Recycling
- 7. You Can Save Thanks to Recycling
- 8. Recycling Creates Employment Opportunities
- The Benefits of Recycling E-Waste
- Next Generation Recycling
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from the recent pandemic, it’s that the Earth did a lot better while we were all locked up indoors. Some cities reported an increase in ozone levels of up to 67% during this time.
Let’s keep the momentum going by embracing more ways to preserve and protect our environment. While we can’t all single-handedly save the world, when we combine our efforts, we can see big results.
Recycling’s one of the easiest and best ways to ensure a greener future for all of us. These are the benefits of recycling and why you should make it a top priority in your home and business.
How Does Recycling Help the Environment?
We all know that recycling’s a good thing, but what does recycling do for our earthly environment? Recycling benefits the air, soil, and water that we rely on to survive, but it also has some other advantages.
Here’s why you should make recycling a top priority in your daily life:
1. Recycling Decreases the Size of Landfills
It’s not hard to figure out that when we reuse materials, we prevent them from landing up in a landfill somewhere.
Fewer landfills automatically translate into huge benefits for the environment. Rats and other vermin thrive in landfills, so fewer landfills help keep their numbers in check too.
2. Energy Savings Thanks to Recycling
Recycled materials cut out a few stages of the manufacturing process. So there’s less energy used in harvesting raw materials, transporting them, and preparing them for use.
It takes almost 95 percent less energy to make new aluminum cans from recycled cans than it does to make them from scratch.
3. Recycling Means Fewer Greenhouse Gases
By saving energy, recycling reduces carbon emissions from both factories and vehicles. This automatically translates into fewer greenhouse gases.
Common recyclable materials like glass, cans, and paper have enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. It’s easy and convenient to set these items aside in seperate bins and drop them off at a recycling center.
4. Conserve Natural Resources With Recycling
When manufacturers have a wealth of recycled materials at their disposal, they don’t need to source new raw materials. This has widespread positive effects on the environment.
In this way, we can also conserve non-renewable natural resources like water, gas, oil, minerals, and timber.
For example, a ton of recycled plastic results in a saving of one ton of oil. Every tone of aluminum you help recycle saves six tons of bauxite, which is a mineral used to produce these cans.
5. Recycling Results in Better Air Quality
The trucks and equipment used to harvest and transport raw materials puff great volumes of noxious gases into the atmosphere. Not only does this harm the Earth’s ozone layer, but it also pollutes the air we breathe.
Cleaner air means fewer respiratory ailments and chronic lung conditions and improved health for all of us.
6. Natural Habitats Can Thrive Thanks to Recycling
Landfills take up more space every year thanks to the ever-increasing amounts of waste deposited into them. These discarded items encroach on the natural habitats in their vicinity and take up space where plants would usually grow.
Our oceans are constantly bombarded with ever more plastic waste which destroys the natural marine environment, killing millions of plants, fish, birds, and animals every day.
7. You Can Save Thanks to Recycling
When you re-use plastic and glass containers, you can save money when you do your grocery shopping. Buying refills is always cheaper when it comes to cleaning materials and some powdered foods.
Manufacturers who save thanks to reduced energy use and production time, can pass these savings onto the consumer too. Some suppliers also offer discounts when you return the original packaging that you bought with their products.
8. Recycling Creates Employment Opportunities
The recycling industry continues to grow and thrive as more people discover the benefits of recycling.
When you hand your recyclable items in at one of these centers, employees must sort and clean these items before they’re sold on to manufacturers.
In this way, recycling creates employment for thousands of people across the country.
The Benefits of Recycling E-Waste
Anything with an electric cord, battery, or plug falls into the realm of e-waste and these items deserve a special mention when it comes to recycling.
Every day, people discard millions of broken, old, or out-of-date electronic items. None of these are biodegradable.
When these things end up in landfills, chemicals can leach out of them into the soil. Millions of them end up dumped in the ocean too, where they slowly poison marine plants and animals.
Ewaste recycling is a hot topic worldwide, and it needn’t be. There are a few ways to dispose of these times responsibly.
Always try to donate these items to a worthy cause first, even if you think they’re beyond repair. Often, expert technicians can revive these types of equipment again or use their components for spares.
If you don’t know how to start recycling your e-waste, some companies specialize in recycling this type of waste so you can dispose of your old laptops and cell phones with a clear conscience.
Next Generation Recycling
One of the biggest benefits of recycling is that when you teach your children about the importance of recycling, you’re ensuring a better future for all.
It’s vitally important that we encourage the next generation to view environmental issues as the norm rather than the exception. In this way, we can look forward to seeing many more exciting innovations in recycling in the decades to come.
Check out some more of my blog for more ways to make the best use of your time and energy as you negotiate the challenges of being a mom.