Recycling protects the environment in a number of ways. For example, recycling reduces or eliminates the need for new materials that have to be extracted from the earth to make new finished products, which also slows or stops harmful practices like strip mining and clear-cut logging. Recycling also conserves energy and, in some cases, releases fewer greenhouse gases than making a new product does.
Carbon Reduction
Recycling can have a significant impact on reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. For instance, the process for recycling aluminum emits less than half of the carbon dioxide released when aluminum is made from bauxite ore, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Recycling paper leaves living trees that also recycle carbon dioxide, removing it from the air and replacing it with oxygen.
Landfill Use
According to the U.S. EPA, no landfill liner will last forever. Some landfill liners are already failing, allowing toxic sludge to find its way into groundwater and other local drinking water supplies. For example, wells in areas immediately adjacent to the Wheeler Landfill in Wheeler, Indiana, contain high levels of toxins that the EPA believes are leaking from the landfill. Recycling keeps waste products out of landfills, which helps slow the amount of toxins escaping into the environment and also saves increasingly scarce land to be used for growing food or for other purposes.
Energy Conservation
Recycling conserves energy. According to the Recycling Facts Guide, recycling aluminum uses 95 percent less energy than creating aluminum from raw bauxite ore, a time-consuming process that also requires huge amounts of water and emits greenhouse gases. Aluminum recycling uses 50 percent less water and emits 80 percent fewer greenhouse gases than creating new aluminum. Recycling plastics eliminates the need to extract more oil and natural gas, which are ingredients in plastics, as well as the need to ship these ingredients to a manufacturing plant and turn them into plastics.
Water Protection
Many manufacturing processes, including those for aluminum and plastics, may result in polluted groundwater. For instance, new aluminum is produced from bauxite ore by adding large amounts of sodium hydroxide, which often leaves the manufacturing process as runoff. Recycling also keeps trash from entering the water cycle as litter. Reducing litter in the world's rivers, lakes, and oceans protects the wildlife that lives there. For instance, plastic grocery bags often wind up in oceans, where sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish, try to eat them, and die. A recent study found plastic lodged in the digestive tracts of one-third of the turtles sampled in the study, according to Treehugger.com.
Considerations
Although recycling is important to protect the environment, it is only one of a wide range of choices a household can make to help protect natural resources. Buying items with reduced or recyclable packaging and items that do not use toxic ingredients, such as organic or eco-friendly cleaning supplies, can also contribute to a healthy environment. Driving less and shorter distances conserves gasoline, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and helps your car's tires last longer.
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