Promoting use of recycled items?

Question

I recycle. I understand how my tiny part in recycling affects the earth. But why should I BUY something that's been made with recycled parts? It costs more, and I'm not aware it's going to affect the planet one way or the other.

Answer 1

if you recycle your doing your part period.

Answer 2

For recycling efforts to work,  the economics must also work.

To find out profitable way to recycle, reuse and reduce, check this link:

Answer 3

In order for your recycling to be useful in any way, you have to re-use those materials. If no one buys the re-used material, then there's no point in recycling. It's a bit more expensive since there's a whole bunch of additional processing, but ecologically, it's worth it. Now if market prices actually included the costs of repairing any environmental damages incurred by the harvesting of raw materials, the recycled material would be waaaaaay cheaper.

But yes, if you can, you should do your best to re-buy recycled materials. Of course, even before you recycle, you should reuse materials and be sure that the item is completely useless to you before you send it out for processing.

Answer 4

I don't understand your delemma.  You recycle, but you don't want to do your part in buying things that are made from your recyclables?  That just doesn't make sense.  If we can make things with our recyclables, doesn't it make sense to use them instead of using more things that we need to find ways to use them for?

The recycled items cost us a little more just for that reason, so we have money to keep on recycling our products.

Take plastic bags versus cotton bags.  It makes sense to use cotton bags to transport your groceries because you are saving a lot of animals from being killed from discarded plastic bags.  And plastic does not disinigrate, but it can be recycled, although it is really costly to make into other things because it takes a lot to break it down.

The cotton bag can be used over and over and over for many, many, many trips to the grocery store.  The plastic bad goes home from the grocery store once and then gets thrown out.  The plastic bag costs nothing to use, but a lot to recycle, whereas the cotton bag cost $1 and has many, many uses.

You figure it out.