Benefits of Recycling

There is a growing appreciation of the benefits associated with recycling. Recycling is one of the simplest, hands-on actions you can take to lift our prosperity, improve our health and society, and protect our environment.

Recycling Benefits Us All

Good for the Economy

Recycling helps our country's economy by reducing our need to import materials from other countries. Recycling provides manufacturers with a dependable source of raw materials, such as recycled aluminum, paper, and plastics, that can be reused to create new products.

Recycling also creates more jobs for people in our communities, and the money they earn stays local. Overall, recycling helps keep costs down because using recycled materials is cheaper than extracting and refining new materials.

Good for Our Health & Community

Recycling reduces pollution by lessening the need to mine for new materials, a process that often pollutes our air, water, and land. Recycling lowers our risk of exposure to harmful chemicals by making sure potentially toxic items like old batteries and electronics are kept out of our environment.

By recycling, we are able to conserve critical natural resources like metals and fresh water for future generations.

Good for Our Planet

Recycling reduces the need to burn fossil fuels to produce new products, which in turn lowers greenhouse gases released into our atmosphere. Processing recycled materials instead of new materials uses significantly less energy.

Recycling sends less waste to landfills, which decreases the opportunity for decomposition and methane release. Methane is 25 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide and is a major contributor to climate change.

Recycling protects old-growth forests from being cut down to make new wood and paper products, saving trees to absorb carbon dioxide (the most common greenhouse gas) and provide us with oxygen.