Why is recycling so important? I always just throw everything away.?

Question

Why is recycling so important? I always just throw everything away.?

Answer 1

Because if you want to save trees you will recycle every peice of paper you have. here let me tell you more....

When you recycle you are breaking down the materials of a used product and using those materials to make something new. Recycling is important because it:

Saves energy.

Conserves natural resources.

Prolongs the life of resources made from the first product.

Reduces the amount of waste being sent to landfill.

For example: One (1) tonne of recycled paper or cardboard saves approximately;

13 trees,

2.5 barrels of oil,

4,100 kw of electricity,

4 cubic metres of landfill (tipping space),

31, 780 litres of water.

Answer 2

Because some day there will be nothing to throw away. Because there will be nothing to make new things from.

Answer 3

I hardly know where to start.

Okay, let's do an easy one: aluminum.  The energy it takes to make an aluminum can, starting all the way from raw ore to finished can, is about 20 times what it takes to recycle the used can back to raw metal and make it into a new can.  That's about the rate of return with all aluminum - most of the energy tied up in the metal is in making it into metal.  It recycles with virtually no losses at all, hundreds of times.  That's way more money-smart than having to a) pay for the miners to get the ore b) pay for the foundries to smelt the metal c) pay for the metal forming company to make the can.  With recycling, you just pay for c), and that's the cheapest part of the process.

It's that way with a lot of materials.  Having been made once, it's easy to rend it down to its components and make it back up again, fresh.  Some things can only be recycled partially - styrofoam cups, for instance, can't be recycled straight back to styro.  But there are plenty of polystyrene products out there, and the styro cups can be feedstock for them, so there's a big savings to be had just the same.

Recycling is obviously a money-smart way to go - most industries have within their processes material reclamation procedures that save waste materials to be put back into the production stream.  They've paid for it, so they sure don't want to throw it away.  They'd have to pay for disposal, but recycling costs may be about the same and help keep future materials costs down: that's a win-win-win for them and ultimately you, the consumer who enjoys the lower price.

Now, for the other angle: what if everything just got thrown away?  Well, landfills take up land, lots of land.  How many landfills do you want to look at?  Where I live there's a "ridge" that didn't used to be there.  I can see it getting a little taller every month.  That's all junk that people have thrown away.  I recycle my paper, steel, plastics and aluminum, and compost vegetable waste when I can.  I don't like that ridge, and it galls me to think I'm adding to it every time I drive by.

Answer 4

Because that way instead of cutting down more trees to make more paper,companies can recycle the ones you put in the recycle bin and just renew thus saving trees from being cut down.Same goes for plastic.It can't be destroyed and even if you burn it ,it causes serious damage to the atmosphere.If you recycle it companies don't have to make anymore. I think you should really consider trying to put your part in saving the planet.

Answer 5

everything people stated already is important and correct but also think of oil.  Plastic is made with oil including the plastic bags you get at the grocery store.  What do you do with these bags?  Do you reuse them?  okay but if you just throw them away or not use them might as well use cloth bags and reuse these.  Many stores like safeway have them for cheap and you can reuse them AND get a few cents off your bill, then you wont have all these oil-produced bags sitting around the house and outside where they can harm animals and the environment.

Answer 6

Besides reducing the amount of material which is mined from the Earth and thrown into landfills, it is also good for your local economy.  Instead of importing materials and throwing them out, recycled materials act as a resource which can be sold by local recycling businesses, creating jobs and revenue for a region.

Whereas a lot of new aluminum comes from China, Russia, and Australia, recycled aluminum cans usually do not travel more than about 100 miles at a time, and the aluminum can you use today will go back onto store shelves in an average of 60 days.

Answer 7

It saves energy because re-using previous materials takes a LOT less energy than making brand new.

Answer 8

Landfills are huge! and we are running out of room. Methane gas is produced from the deterioration and this can be expensive and difficult to harvest. Paper means trees and deforestation around the world not only means global warming but also causes loss of natural habitats for millions of animals and bugs, these in-turn migrate to other areas which can cause huge devastation and can also kill species off. Also plastic is highly toxic it will never degrade and it is just lazy lets face it not to recycle.

Answer 9

It fills the landfills with renewable materials, which could be reused and create less waste. Be responsible, it doesn't take any more effort to put it in a different can.

Answer 10

because it takes less energy to recycle than to create a whole new bottle or package or whatever..and all that energy creates pollution..you know how factories spew out all that smoke? that's what's ruining the earth..

when new york first started to become a big city..all the smoke and pollution from the factories were killing people..the smoke nowadays does the same thing..it's just at a slower pace..

we're trying to get rid of all of that so we can breath fresh air instead of a bunch of c**p in our lungs..

Answer 11

It save on dump space. It saves energy because it reduces the demand for new aluminum and plastic.

Answer 12

me too.